Arup Kumar Goswami, J.

1. I have heard Mr. S.S. Dey, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners in WP (C) No. 5293 of 2013 and WP (C) No. 5298 of 2013; Mr. S. Chakraborty, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in WP (C) No. 5641 of 2014. I have also heard Mr. S.K. Sinha, learned counsel appearing for the private respondents in WP (C) No. 5293 of 2013 and WP (C) No. 5298 of 2013 and Md. Gias Uddin, learned counsel appearing for the private respondents in WP (C) No. 5641 of 2014 as well as Dr. B. Ahmed, learned Standing Counsel, Co-operation Department.

2. All the aforesaid three writ petitions fundamentally raise similar questions of law based on similar facts. As agreed to by the learned counsel for the parties, they were taken up together for consideration for disposal at the admission stage and they are now being disposed of by this common judgment and order.

3. Under Section 2(g) of the Assam Co-operative Societies Act, 2007, for short, Act of 2007, "Board" means the Governing body of a Co-operative Society to which the management of the affairs of the Co-operative Society is entrusted under the bye-laws and includes managing committee of a Co-operative Society. Under Section 31 of the Act of 2007, term of the Board of the Co-operative Society was fixed for three years. Part IXB, dealing with Co-operative societies, containing Articles 243ZH to 243ZT was inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2011 with effect from 15.02.2012. Article 243ZJ prescribes the number and term of members of Board of Directors of the Co-operative Society and its office bearers. Article 243ZJ(2) provides that the term of office of the elected members of the Board and its office bearers shall be 5 years from the date of election and the term of office bearers shall be co-terminus with the term of the Board. Article 243ZT provides for continuance of existing laws. Article 243ZT lays dawn that notwithstanding anything contained in Part IXB, any provision of any law relating to Co-operative Societies in force in a State immediately before the commencement of the Constitution (Ninety-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2011, which is inconsistent with the provisions of Part IXB, shall continue to be in force until amended or repealed by a competent Legislature or other competent authority or until expiration of one year from such commencement, whichever is less. Subsequently, Section 31 of the Act of 2007 was amended on 05.02.2013 and presently the said Section reads as follows:-

"31. Term of the Board - The term of the Board shall be five Co-operative years."

4. The controversy in the three writ petitions centers around on the question, as to whether in the attending facts and circumstances of the case, the Boards of the three Co-operative Societies involved, which were, admittedly, holding office as on 05.02.2013, would be entitled to continue for the term of five Cooperative years. A Division Bench of this Court in W.A. No. 172 of 2013 (Nagen Deka vs. State of Assam & Others), by a judgment dated 26.07.2013, had held that the term of office of the elected members is five years and is applicable to all such elected members who were holding office as on 05.02.2013. But for the intervening developments, which will be narrated herein below by way of presentation, in brief, of the relevant factual matrix of the writ petitions, this Court could have straightway held that the issue raised is no longer res-integra in view of the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Nagen Deka (Supra).

5. Basic facts of the individual writ petitions may, now, be briefly noticed:

A. WP (C) No. 5293 of 2013: (i) Annual General Meeting of Dakhin Hojai Kumarakata Samabay Samity Ltd., (for short, Samity) was held on 18.04.2010 and vide resolution No. 2, the petitioner No. 1 was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Managing Committee. Petitioner No. 2 was elected as Vice-Chairman and petitioner Nos. 3 to 11 as Members of the Managing Committ