Point of Law: Once a person becomes a member of a cooperative society he loses his individuality qua the society and he has no independent rights except those given to him by the statute and the bye-laws He must act and speak through the society or rather, the society alone can act and speak for qua rights or duties of the society as a body

JUDGMENT :

J.B. Pardiwala, J.

1. As the issues involved in all the captioned appeals are the same and the challenge is also to the selfsame order passed by the learned Single Judge, those were heard analogously and are being disposed of by this common judgment and order.

2. Having regard to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the pivotal issue involved in this litigation and with the consent of the learned counsel appearing for the parties, we have decided to hear out the writ applications themselves along with the present appeals.

3. For the sake of convenience, the Letters Patent Appeal No.466 of 2020 in the Special Civil Application No.9859 of 2020 is treated as the lead matter.

4. This appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent is at the instance of the original respondent No.3 of a writ application and is directed against the interim order passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court dated 25th August, 2020 in the Special Civil Application No.9859 of 2020, by which, the learned Judge admitted the writ application and stayed the order passed by the Addl. Registrar (Appeals) under Section 153 of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 (for short “the Act, 1961).

5. The facts, giving rise to this litigation, may be summarized as under;

5.1 The appellant before us is the Chairman of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee, Junagadh (original respondent No.3). The respondent No.1 (original writ applicant) is a Cooperative Society registered under the Act, 1961.

5.2 On 7th March, 2015, the respondent No.1 Society came to be registered.

5.3 The respondent-Society originally was registered as Shri Toraniya Gopalak Vividh Karyakari Sahakari Mandali Limited. The erstwhile bye-laws of the Society provided for the grant of credit to its members for agricultural purposes and for rearing of cattle.

5.4 The Society convened a special general meeting of his members dated 24th July, 2015 for the purpose of effecting amendments in the bye-laws for change of its objects and names.

5.5 The Addl. District Registrar, District Panchayat, Junagadh, vide order dated 27th July, 2015, approved the amendments. Its name was changed to “Toraniya Vividh Karyakari Seva Sahakari Mandali Limited”.

5.6 The action of the Society in amending its bye-laws and the approval given to the same by the Addl. District Registrar, District Panchayat, Junagadh vide order dated 27th July, 2015 was not liked by the appellant herein. The appellant, in his capacity as the Chairman of an Agricultural Produce Market Committee, thought fit to challenge the same by preferring an appeal before the Addl. Registrar (Appeals) under Section 153 of the Act, 1961. The appeals before the Addl. Registrar (Appeals) came to be registered as the Appeals Nos. 80 to 86 of 2015 respectively.

5.7 The appellant herein thought fit to challenge the amendments in the bye-laws substantially on the ground that the same was nothing but a device to implant the voters list of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee, Junagadh.

5.8 It appears that the appellant herein had come before this Court by filing the Special Civil Application No.6002 of 2020 with a prayer that the Addl. Registrar (Appeals) Cooperative Societies be directed to expeditiously hear all the appeals and decide the same.

5.9 The appeals were taken up for hearing by the Addl. Registrar (Appeals) on 22nd July, 2020.

5.10 In the meantime, on 18th July 2020, the Director of APMC, Junagadh declared the election of the APMC, Junagadh.

5.11 A notification of the election program came to be issued on 24th July, 2020.

5.12 On 6th August, 2020, the preliminary votes list for the election of the APMC, Junagadh came to be published wherein the names of the writ applicants' Societies were shown in the preliminary list of voters for the agriculturist constituency.

5.13 The respondent No.3 herein, i.e., the Addl. Registrar (Appeals) Cooperative Societies allowed the appeals filed by the appellant herein vide order dated 6th August, 2020. The Add