Previous sanction under Section 71 of the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 is a prerequisite for cooperative societies' investments, and post facto approval cannot be validated.

JUDGMENT :

(Sangeeta K. Vishen, J.)

Since the issue raised in all the captioned writ petitions is common, those were taken up for hearing analogously and are being disposed of by this common oral judgment.

2. By these petitions, the petitioner union has prayed for quashing and setting aside the orders, all dated 12.05.2022 passed by the Deputy Secretary (Appeals) Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare and Co-operation Department (hereinafter referred to as “the respondent no.1”) so also orders, all dated 15.01.2021 passed by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies refusing to grant permission under the provisions of Section 71 of the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act of 1961”).

3. The issue revolves around the previous sanction of the Registrar under the provisions of Section 71 of the Act of 1961. According to the petitioner union, it being a marketing society, previous sanction was not necessitated considering the fact that the provisions of clause (ff) of sub-section (1) of Section 71 of the Act of 1961 would not attract the transactions entered into by the petitioner union. As against this, while refusing the request of the petitioner union for previous sanction, the stand taken by the respondent authorities, is that the Section contemplates previous sanction and not a post facto sanction. The said refusal, has given rise to the filing of the captioned writ petitions.

4. Perceptibly, almost 15 transactions have been entered into by the petitioner union for the period ranging from the year 1981 to 2019. Details whereof, are indicated in the Resolution no.3 dated 24.12.2019 passed by the petitioner union and produced on the record (page 51 of Special Civil Application no.15604 of 2022). Since there were 15 transactions, 15 writ petitions have been filed. As aforesaid, issue involved in all the writ petitions is common barring minor variation in factual aspects i.e. the details of the transactions. Thus, facts are derived from Special Civil Application no.15604 of 2022 and are set out hereinbelow:

4.1 The petitioner union is a federal society registered under the provisions of the Act of 1961 with area of operation extended to the Districts namely Navsari, Valsad and Dang. First plant of the petitioner union was established in the year 1981, and thereafter other and 1105 primary Co-operative Societies, are its members. It is also the case of the petitioner union that it is procuring 8.5 lakh liters of milk from the primary level milk producing societies every day. Petitioner union processes the milk into different products namely milk pouches, butter, ghee, paneer, curd, butter milk, ice-cream etc. and sells it in the open market through apex society known as Gujarat State Co-operative Milk Federation in the brand name of ‘AMUL’. The petitioner union fetches high price of the milk produced by the milk producers and tries to improve the life of poor and tribal farmers residing in distant and tribal areas.

4.2 The petitioner union, since the year 1981 till date, had purchased various parcels of land for the purpose of constructing the plant or expanding the project. Details of the investments made from the year 1981 to 2019, are indicated in the Resolution no.3 dated 24.12.2019 passed by the petitioner union and produced on the record (page 51 of Special Civil Application no.15604 of 2022). According to the petitioner union, in the year 2014-2015, audit took place and audi