(PER : HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. BHASKAR BHATTACHARYA)

1. This Letters Patent Appeal has been referred to the Larger Bench by a Division Bench (C.K.Thakkar & S.D.Pandit, JJ.) by order dated 2nd July 1997 in view of the conflicting decisions of two Division Benches of this Court, one, in the case of Amreli District Cooperative Sales and Purchase Union Ltd. & Ors. Vs. State of Gujarat, reported in 1984 (2) GLR 1244 and the other, in the case of Jain Merchant Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. & Ors. Vs. HUF of Manubhai Kalyanbhai Shah, reported in 1995 (1) GLR 19.

2. The question that falls for determination in this Larger Bench is as under:

“Whether in view of the subsequent decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Daman Singh Vs. State of Punjab, reported in AIR 1985 SC 973, the decision in the case of Amreli District Cooperative Sales and Purchase Union Ltd. (supra) is good law.”

3. The facts giving rise to the filing of the Special Civil Application, out of which the present Reference arises, may be summed up thus:-

3.1 The appellant before us, a Co-operative Society registered under the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act [ “the Act” for short], filed a suit bein