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2019 Supreme(Guj) 572
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.
Jaganathpuri Cooperative Service Society Ltd. – Petitioner
Versus
State of Gujarat – Respondent
Special Civil Application Nos. 3799, 3802, 3811, 3813 of 2019
Decided On : 26-02-2019
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioners: Mr. Pravin P. Panchal, Mr. Archit P. Jani.
For the Respondents: Ms. Manisha Lavkumar Shah, Ms. Jyoti Bhatt, Mr. Venugopal Patel.
Headnote:
Gujarat Agricultural Produce Market Act – Section 11(1)(i) – Rule 8(2) – Challenged orders passed by respondent-Authorized Officer deleting names of managing committee of members of petitioner-societies from voters' list prepared for Agriculturalists' Constituency for election of APMC – Held, Members of managing committee of primary agricultural credit cooperative society dispensing agricultural credit in market area alone are eligible for inclusion for holding elections to agriculturist constituency of market committee – Court not find any illegality or infirmity against order passed by Authorized Officer for inclusion of names of petitioner societies in voters' list of agriculturalists constituence, is no help to him, inasmuch provisions contained in Section 11(1)(i) amended – Petitions dismissed – [Para 7,9 & 11]
Facts of the case:
Challenged orders passed by respondent-Authorized Officer deleting names of managing committee of members of petitioner-societies from voters' list prepared for Agriculturalists' Constituency for election of APMC.
Findings of the court:
Members of managing committee of primary agricultural credit cooperative society dispensing agricultural credit in market area alone are eligible for inclusion for holding elections to agriculturist constituency of market committee – Court not find any illegality or infirmity against order passed by Authorized Officer for inclusion of names of petitioner societies in voters' list of agriculturalists constituence, is no help to him, inasmuch provisions contained in Section 11(1)(i) amended.
Result: Petitions dismissed
JUDGMENT :
BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.
1. The questions of facts and law involved in all the four petitions being similar, they were heard together with the consent of learned advocates for the parties and are being disposed of by this common judgment.
2. In all the four petitions, the respective petitioners have challenged the impugned orders dated 15.02.2019 passed by the respondent-Authorized Officer deleting the names of the managing committee of the members of the petitioner-societies from the voters' list prepared for the Agriculturalists' Constituency for election of APMC, Unjha.
3. For the sake of convenience, the facts of Special Civil Application No. 3799 of 2019 are taken into consideration. As per the case of the petitioner of the said petition, the petitioner society was incorporated in the year 1963 and was dispensing agricultural credit in the market area. The election of APMC, Unjha was earlier held in the year 2015 and the petitioner was one of the eligible voter in the list prepared for the agriculturalists' constituency as per Section 11(1)(i) of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Market Act (hereinafter referred to as the APMC Act). The objections having been raised against the inclusion of the names of the members of the managing committee of the petitioner society at the relevant time, the said objections were overruled by the Authorized Officer vide the order dated 12.01.2015. It is further case of the petitioner that now the programme for election of the APMC, Unjha has been declared vide notification dated 07.01.2019, and the provisional list of voters was published on 29.01.2019, in which the names of the members of the managing committee of the petitioner society were included. However, the respondent No. 4 having objected against such inclusion, the petitioner was called upon to submits its reply to the said objections, which reply was submitted before the respondent- Authorized Officer. The Authorized Officer after considering the objections and the reply, vide the impugned order dated 15.02.2019, allowed the said objections and deleted the names of the members of the petitioner's managing committee from the voters' list of the agricultural constituency of the APMC, Unjha. Similar objections were filed against Unjha Cooperative Service Society Ltd. Sardar Service Cooperative Service Society Ltd. and Rusatpara Vistar Cooperative Service Society Ltd. The respondent-Authorized Officer passed similar orders against the said societies also. Being aggrieved by the same, the present petitions have been filed.
4. The learned advocate Mr. Archit P. Jani for the petitioners vehemently submitted that though the petitioner society was included in the voters' list of agriculturalists' constituency in the elections held in the year 2015, despite the objections raised against the petitioners societies that they were not dispensing agricultural credit, this time in the impugned order passed by the respondent-Authorized Officer, it has been held that the petitioners were not dispensing agricultural credit as per three tier structure, and were not the primary agricultural societies. Relying upon the unreported decision of the Division Bench in the case of Vibhapar Seva Sahakari Mandali Ltd. vs. State of Gujarat and Others decided on 15.07.2010 in Special Civil Application No. 6587 of 2010 and others, and in the case of Shrutbandhu Himatlal Popat vs. State of Gujarat through Secretary, 2011 (0) GLHEL-HC 226207, he submitted that the respondent – Authorized Officer had no jurisdiction to make roving inquiry into the genuineness of the transaction of the agricultural credit dispensed by the petitioner society.
5. However, the learned Government Pleader Ms. Manisha Lavkumar Shah appearing for the respondent authorities submitted that the issues raised by the petitioner in the petitions are no more res integra in view of the decision of this Court in the case of Bhesavahi Group Vividh Karyakari Seva Sahakari Mandali Limited vs. State of
