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2020 Supreme(Guj) 598
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
Biren Vaishnav, J.
Patel Gaurangbhai Naranbhai - Petitioner
Versus
State of Gujarat - Respondent
R/Special Civil Application No. 7539 of 2020 With Civil Application (For Joining Party) No. 1 of 2020
Decided On : 11-08-2020
For the Petitioner: Mr. P.K. Jani, Sr. Counsel with Mr. Shivang P. Jani.
For the Respondent: Ms. Manisha Lavkumar, GP with Mr. K.M. Antani AGP.
Point of Law:
Powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India will be loathe to interfere and interject to the proceedings at the show cause notice stage, merely because the petitioner apprehends that the authorities have taken a premeditated and a predetermined stand.
Headnote:
Constitution of India – Article 226 – Gujarat Cooperative Societies Rules – Rule 32 – Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act – Sec.145(F)(e) read with Sec.27 – Election – Show cause notice – Ineligibility to hold office – Petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of Constitution of India with prayer to issue writ of certiorari quashing and setting aside show cause notice issued by respondent and be further pleased to quash and set aside communication.
Facts of Case:
It is case of petitioner that election of Mehsana District Central Cooperative Bank Limited which is a specified cooperative society was due in year 2015 – Election was to be held in accordance with Chapter 11(A) of Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act – Task of holding election was entrusted to Collector –Petitioner filed his nomination paper and when election of Board of Directors - Members of Managing Committee was held, petitioner was duly elected as a candidate for Siddhpur seat in accordance with declaration of Collector – No election petition challenging the election of the petitioner was filed – It is case of petitioner that suddenly Registrar of Cooperative Societies issued a show cause notice to petitioner asking petitioner to show cause as to why he should not be held to be ineligible to hold post of Director of Mehsana District Central Cooperative Bank Limited – Case of petitioner is that while issuing show cause notice, respondent has taken into account opinion of District Registrar – He has also taken note of representations made by three individuals, who have filed present Civil Application through counsel for being joined as party respondents – Petitioner requested for time to reply to show cause notice due to current pandemic – There was repeated pressure from Registrar of Cooperative Societies that he must respond to notice and petitioner was asked to submit his explanation – Subject matter of challenge in petition, therefore, is the show cause notice issued to petitioner holding as to why petitioner under provisions of Sec.145(F)(e) read with Sec.27 of Act and read with Rule 32 of Gujarat Cooperative Societies Rules and bye law No. 32(6) of bye laws of Bank be held to be ineligible to continue to hold post of Director.
Findings of Court:
Court in exercise of its powers under Article 226 of Constitution of India will be loathe to interfere and interject to proceedings at the show cause notice stage, merely because petitioner apprehends that authorities have taken a premeditated and a predetermined stand – Merely on the basis of such allegations, this Court would not prejudge the issue at the hands of the petitioner and leave it to the authorities to take a decision on the show cause notice in accordance with law and without being influenced by such reasons.
Result: Petition Dismissed
JUDGMENT :
1. Rule returnable forthwith. Learned advocates waive service of notice of rule for the concerned respondents. With the consent of the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties, the matters were taken up for final hearing forthwith on 05.08.2020.
2. The petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the following prayer:
“10(A) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue writ of certiorari quashing and setting aside the show cause notice issued by the respondent bearing No.MSB/01/TP/6296/2020 dated 19th March, 2020 which is at Annexure 'J' to this petition and be further pleased to quash and set aside the communication dated 27th May, 2020 which is at Annexure 'L' to the petition.”
3. The prayer arises in the context of the following facts:
- It is the case of the petitioner that the election of the Mehsana District Central Cooperative Bank Limited which is a specified cooperative society was due in the year 2015. The election was to be held in accordance with Chapter 11(A) of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The task of holding election was entrusted to the Collector. Certain dates are pleaded in the petition which are as under:
(1) 20.8.2015 - the name of the petitioner was sent by Rampura Seva Sahakari Mandali Limited as its representative by passing a resolution.
(2) 27.8.2015 – publication of the provisional list of voters; the name of the petitioner was shown as its nominee.
(3) 16.10.2015 – even in final list of voters, the petitioner's name was shown as a representative of the Rampura Seva Sahakari Mandali Limited.
- It is the case of the petitioner that the Rampura Seva Sahakari Mandali Limited is a member of the Mehsana District Central Cooperative Bank Limited and fulfills the eligibility criteria of being in the voters list of the Bank. It was only after due process that the name of the petitioner was included in the list of voters. The petitioner's case is that the Rampura Seva Sahakari Mandali Limited had audit class B for the years 2013-15 and has been consistently performing well either with audit class A or B since last ten years.
- It is the case of the petitioner that since the petitioner fulfilled the requirement and eligibility as candidate to contest the election of the Mehsana District Cooperative Bank Limited and the bye laws, a detailed election programme was published; the petitioner filed his nomination paper and when the election of Board of Directors - Members of the Managing Committee was held on 19.11.2015, the petitioner was duly elected as a candidate for the Siddhpur seat in accordance with the declaration of the Collector dated 19.11.2015. No election petition challenging the election of the petitioner was filed.
- Litigations have been referred to in the petition wherein the appointment of the Government nominees and professional Directors and action of their removal was challenged by different parties but never was the election of the petitioner brought into question.
- It is the case of the petitioner that suddenly on 19.3.2020, the Registrar of the Cooperative Societies issued a show cause notice to the petitioner asking the petitioner to show cause as to why he should not be held to be ineligible to hold the post of the Director of the Mehsana District Central Cooperative Bank Limited. The petitioner was given 7 days' time to explain.
- The case of the petitioner is that while issuing the show cause notice, the respondent has taken into account the opinion dated 16.3.2020 of the District Registrar. He has also taken note of the representations made by three individuals, who have filed the present Civil Application through Mr.Dipen Desai, leaned counsel for being joined as party respondents.
- The petitioner requested for time to reply to the show cause notice due to the current pande
