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2007 (1) CPR 438 (NC)
NATIONAL CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,
CIRCUIT BENCH AT CHENNAI
M.B. Shah, President; Mrs. Rajyalakshmi Rao, Member
The Registrar of Co-Operative Societies
& Anr.—Petitioners
versus
Tamil Nadu Consumer Protection
Council, Trichy & Ors.—Respondents
Revision Petition Nos. 726-821 of 2003
(With Rev. Pet. Nos. 822-923 of 2003, 1517-1635 of 2003, 1636-1762 of 2003 and 1414 to 1421 of 2003)
All decided on 9-2-2007
Counsel for the Parties:
For the Petitioners:Mrs. Nalani Chidambaram, Sr. Advocate with Mr. N. Thagarajan, Advocate.
For the Respondents:Mr. N. Pushpavanam, Authorised Representative – Tamil Nadu Consumer Protection Council, Trichy, Mr. K. Selvan Sr. Advocate for Respondent No. 10 in R.P. Nos. 1414-1421 of 2003.
V. IMPORTANT POINT
The Registrar of the Co-Operative Societies and the Special Officer, appointed under Section 88 of the Co-Operative Societies Act, after super-session of Management Board of the Society Trichirapalli Consumer Cooperative Wholesale Ltd., Trichy would not be jointly and severally liable for non-refund of deposits of Society.
Headnote:Consumer Protection Act, 1986—Sections 2(1)(o) read with Section 2(1)(g) and 21(b)—Tamil Nadu Co-Operative Societies Act, 1983—Whether the Registrar of the Co-Operative Societies and the Special Officers, appointed under Section 88 of the Co-Operative Societies Act, after super-session of Management Board of the Society, Trichirapally Consumer Co-Operative Wholesale Ltd., Trichy, would be jointly and severally liable for non-refund of deposits by Society as held by State Commission? (No)—Revision disposed off accordingly.
Held: In our view, the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies and the Special Officer are discharging their duties under statutory provisions unconnected with any contract of accepting deposit from the Complainants by the Co-operative Society. They cannot be held personally liable for non-refund of deposits by the Co-operative Society on the ground that the Society was suffering from financial crunch or for various other reasons including mal-administration of the Society. The Registrar of the Co-operative Societies under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act is not providing any service or facility as contemplated under the Consumer Protection Act, but is exercising statutory, administrative, supervisory control and is discharging quasi-judicial functions as provided in the said Act. (Para 2)
Held further: Hence, in our view, the reliance placed by the State Commission on the sections and the rules would only reveal that the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies is entitled to have a supervisory jurisdiction, administrative control and is also required to discharge quasi-judicial functions. But, that would not mean that the Registrar would be personally liable for the defaults committed by the Society. (Para 16)
Held thereafter: Hence, we hold that the Registrar of the Cooperative Societies, Tamil Nadu, is not discharging any service as contemplated under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 nor is providing any facility under the Act, but is exercising statutory, administrative, supervisory power or and discharging quasi-judicial functions under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act. There is no question of hiring or availing of service or facility of the Registrar or the Special Officer by the Complainants who have deposited their amounts with the
society. (Para 27)
Held consequently: Hence, we set aside the order passed by the State Commission holding that the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies and the Special Officer are jointly and severally liable to pay the amount to the depositors. We hold that only the Co-operative Society would be liable for refund of the deposit with accrued interest. (Para 28)
But held: It is also made clear that on the basis of various directions issued by this Commission the society has repaid the deposits in the sum of Rs. 575,87,000 i.e. principal amount to the Complainants without interest. For the interest amount it is agreed between the parties that the same would be paid with interest at the rate of 8% p.a.
It is, therefore, ordered that the interest amount at the rate of 8% shall be paid to the Complainants as far as possible within a period of one year, even by selling of the land belonging to the society as stated in our order dated 8.1.1997, wherein, inter alia, we have directed as under:
“Considering the aforesaid submissions and the fact that for administration of the society, Special Officer has taken charge, it is hoped that the Special Officer would make efforts to sell the immovable property and pay the amount if suggested by the members of the Co-operative Society. Affidavit, as stated above, to be filed on or before 18.1.2007. Dasti.
We have heard Mr. N. Pushpavanam, Authorised Representative of the Consumer Protection Council. He submits that direction be issued to the Petitioner Society to pay the interest at the rate of 8% p.a. to the depositors to whom the amount is repaid, within a period of one year”.
We have taken into consideration the affidavits filed by the Deputy Registrar, Special Officer and that of the Complainant. In our view, considering the dispute the society is directed to pay interest amount in any case, within a period of two years. This direction is also given to the Special Officer of the society who is in-charge of day-to-day administration of the society.
The Revision Petitions are disposed of accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs.
(Paras 29, 30, 31 and 32)
Result: Revision disposed of accordingly.
M.B. Shah, President—The only question which requires consideration in these Revision Petitions is whether the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies and the Special Officer, appointed under Section 88 of the Co-operative Societies Act, after super-session of Management Board of the Society, Tiruchirapalli Consumer Co-operative Wholesale Ltd., Trichy, would be jointly and severally liable for non-refund of deposits by the Society?
2. In our view, the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies and the Special Officer are discharging their duties under statutory provisions unconnected with any contract of accepting deposit from the Complainants by the Co-operative Society. They cannot be held personally liable for non-refund of deposits by the Co-operative Society on the ground that the Society was suffering from financial crunch or for various other reasons including mal-administration of the Society. The Registrar of the Co-operative Societies under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act is not providing any service or facility as contemplated under the Consumer Protection Act, but is exercising statutory, administrative, supervisory control and is discharging quasi -judicial functions as provided in the said Act.
Facts:
3. The Tiruchirapalli Consumer Co-operative Wholesale Stores Ltd. (for short, the TCCWS) failed to refund the deposited amount with interest accrued thereon to the Investors/depositors. It is pointed out that the TCCWS had been constituted for the purposes, such as, to purchase articles in bulk of domestic consumption and sell them in wholesale and retail; to purchase or hire processing plants for the purpose of processing and or manufacturing goods into a State fit for consumption or use; to construct, purchase or hire godowns or yards for purpose of storage, processing or manufacturing goods; to purchase or hire lorries for transport of goods; to act as the agent of the Government and or co-operative societies to procure and stock foodgrains and other commodities, to sell the goods purchased, processed or manufactured by it to its affiliated primary stores at wholesale rates; to undertake retail distribution of goods, purchased, processed or manufactured by it, to open branches or supper markets for retail distribution at suitable places within its area of operations for the purpose mentioned in clause 7, to make distribution of consumer goods between purchasers and/or manufacturers as directed as can be efficiently done and to undertake such other activities as are deemed essential for the attainment of any all of the above objectives.
4. The TCCWS opened branches and
super markets for retail distribution at
suitable places within its area of operation and it opened the super market by the name of Chinthamani Co-operative Super Market (for short “CSM”).
5. The TCCWS and the CSM come under the purview of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983. By the application of the said Act, they come under the effective control and supervision of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies and the Government of Tamil Nadu represented by the Secretary to Government, Co-operative Department under the relevant provisions thereto.
6. The TCCWS, it appears, on the instructions issued by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, received short-term and long-terms deposits from its members agreeing to pay interest at a specified rate, obviously requiring such fluid cash resources or commercial transaction it had entered into in its sphere of its activities. The receipt of deposits from its members for the first time took place during the year 1997. As a matter of fact, there were a few deposits in the year 1997 as well as in 1998. Thereafter, the deposits collected from the members increased by leaps and bounds between the period 1999 and 2000. For the deposits so collected, the varying rates of interest were agreed to be paid such as 4.75%, 5%, 7%, 8%, 11%, 12%, 13.5%, 14% and 15% per annum.
7. The investors who ma
