The issue in this writ petition is as follows:

Can the spouse of an employee be sued by the society under Section 69 of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act ('the Act') on the premise that he or she has indemnified the other partner, the employee, for what is said to be the misappropriation committed by the said employee?

2. At the outset, I make it clear that I do not intend to get into the merits of the matter, for any adjudication of the matter on merits would prejudice the cause of either of the parties before the Arbitration Court, where the matter is pending.

3. The scope of the present adjudication is to examine whether the third respondent, the husband of the second respondent, the employee, could be sued along with his wife, and whether his property can be attached on the basis of Ext.P1, the alleged indemnity bond executed jointly by respondents 2 and 3.

4. The facts in brief are that the second respondent is one of the two collection agents working on a contract basis in the respondent Bank. For the financial year 2010-2011, in the audit conducted, it came to light that the Bank suffered a loss of more than Rs. 12,00,000/- on account of improper maintenance of rec