The postponement of an election process under the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007 requires a prima facie satisfaction of errors in the voters list by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

A.S. BOPANNA, J.

1. Heard Mr. M.U. Mahmud and Ms. K. Gogoi, learned counsel for the appellants. Also heard Mr. G. Talukdar and Mr. M. Das, learned counsel for private respondents.

2. The appellants are before this Court assailing the order dated 28.2.2018 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) No.1121 of 2018. Through the said order, the learned Single Judge, in fact, has passed an innocuous order indicating that the authorities are required to perform their statutory duties in accordance with the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007 and, in that light, has directed that the election relating to Batadraba Satra S.S. Limited be completed after initiating the process within three days from the date of the order. The appellants claiming to be aggrieved are before this Court in this appeal.

3. It is to be noted at the outset that the writ petitioners therein were some of the members of the Society, while the appellants herein are also the members of the said Society. However, the appellants herein were not arrayed as parties to the writ petition. Despite the said position, since the appellants claim to be aggrieved by the ultimate conclusion reached by the learned Single Judge, they are before this Court. To contend that they are entitled to maintain the instant appeal and put forth their contentions, the learned counsel for the appellants would point out that the appellants are the persons who had raised grievance with regard to inappropriate voters list that had been published in respect of the Society in question. In that circumstance, when the Registrar of Cooperative Societies had directed the postponement of the election and an enquiry to be conducted so as to rectify the voters list, the appellants are to be permitted to put forth their contention as otherwise they would be prejudiced if the order of the learned Single Judge is implemented.

4. Having taken into consideration this aspect of the matter, we have heard the learned counsel for the appellants exhaustively and, in that light, are considering the grievance as put forth in this appeal though the appellants were not parties to the original proceedings.

5. The case as put forth on behalf of the appellants by the learned counsel is that the appellants herein had brought to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner the defects in the voters list inasmuch as certain persons though alive, were shown to be dead and some of the voters who were not the residents of the locality, were included as the members. In that regard, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies having taken note of the report of the Deputy Commissioner had, through the order dated 20.1.2018 directed the ARCS, Nagaon to enquire into the matter and find out whether there is any defect in the voters list. In that light, when the Registrar of Cooperative Societies had directed the enquiry and, in the meantime, had postponed the election, the learned counsel would submit that in such circumstance when the competent authority under the Act had taken steps to ensure that an appropriate voters list is maintained before the election are held, the order passed by the learned Single Judge based only on the contentions as put forth by the private respondents herein would not be justified. In order to contend that certain of the persons who are dead were shown in the voters list and the persons who are not the residents of the area were also indicated therein, the learned counsel has referred to the list as prepared by the appellant and the same is annexed at Annexure-3 to the writ appeal papers. In addition, the learned counsel has sought to rely on the report said to have been submitted by the ARCS pursuant to the direction issued by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, which report is produced with the affidavit-in-opposition at Annexure-A to I.A. (Civil) No.1580 of 2018. It is referred to contend that on such enquiry, it has been noticed that certain of the persons who are alive are shown as dead in the