The jurisdiction of the Civil Court is not barred by Section 91(3) of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, if the dispute between a society and a Comunidade does not fall within the ambit of Section 91(1).

ORDER:- It was on 15-4-1964 that Quarry Workers Co-operative Society Ltd. with head office at S. Jose de Areal, was registered. On the same date the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies communicated the fact of the registration of the society to the Administrator and also apprised him that S/Shri Andre Cardozo and Aleixo Endro would sign the contract on behalf of the society with the Comunidade of Curtorim respecting the lease of some hilly areas owned by Comunidade for the purpose of quarrying granite stones. Pursuant to the Registrar's authority. Andre Cardozo and Aleixo Endro signed the contract (reproduced on pages 15 to 20 of the paper book) with the aforesaid Comunidade on 23rd of August 1964. In terms of the contract the extraction of the granite gravel by the society was to last for a period of one year but that period could be extended, for an equal period, at the request of the society. The society was to pay to the Comunidade in the month of July each year rent equal to l/4th of the net income made by the society, and in case the society failed to fulfil any of the conditions of the agreement, the Administrative Board of the Comunidade could propose the rescission of the contract.

2. It appears that soon after the first year of the contract had run out differences cropped up between the Comunidade and the society in regard to the rent payment. The society, it is alleged by the Comunidade, offered a rent of Rs. 528.19, whereas the Comunidade insisted that the amount due to it was Rs. 1047.60. The society however continued to quarry the stones and that too without offering or paying any rent to the Comunidade. On 28-8-1967 the Administrative Board passed a resolution rescinding the contract, and on 19th of April 1968 the Comunidade instituted the suit against the society praying for possession of the areas made over to the society for extraction of the granite, for recovery of the outstanding rent, and for compensation for the period the society had been in occupation of those areas beyond the first year. The suit was resisted by the society, inter alia, on the pleas that the Civil Court had no jurisdiction in the matter and that the plaint did not disclose any cause of action. The court formulated all the issues that arose out of the parties' pleadings on 1st of August 1968. The first issue reads: "Whether the Court has jurisdiction?" On the assumption that this issue is purely one of law and since it related to the jurisdiction of the court, it was dealt with as a preliminary issue. The trial court did not accept the contention of the defendant society that the Civil Court lacks jurisdiction in the matter. Consequently, the issue was decided against that society by order dated 17th of January 1969. Having felt aggrieved with that order the society has come up in revision to this Court.

3. Shri Cabral, appearing for the petitioner society, urged that the jurisdiction of the Civil Court is barred by sub-section (3) of Section 91 of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, as applied to the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu. That sub-section provides that subject to the exception mentioned therein no court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or other proceedings in respect of any dispute referred to in sub-section (1). The relevant part of sub-section (1) enacts that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, any dispute touching the business of a society shall be referred by any of the parties to the dispute to the Registrar, if both the parties thereto are one or other of the persons mentioned in the five clauses that form part of that subsection. Shri Cabral contended that our case falls within clauses (a) and (c). Clause (a) enumerates, amongst others, a society and surely one of the parties to the present dispute is a society. Clause (c) refers to "a person other than a member of the society, who has been granted a loan by the society, or with whom the

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