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2003 Supreme(HP) 8

Himachal Pradesh High Court
Ms. KAMLESH SHARMA, Actg. C.J. AND KULDIP CHAND SOOD, J.
Sushil Mittal and another - Appellant
Versus
R. D. Bhardwaj and another - Respondents
F.A.O. Nos. 319 and 426 of 2001
Decided On : 8 January 2003

Advocates Appeared:
R. P. Singh, for Appellants; Ramakant Sharma, for Respondents.

Compliance with clear and unambiguous court orders is essential, and disputes regarding membership qualifications must be decided based on the relevant legal provisions.

Headnote:

Co-operative Societies Act - Dispute regarding membership - S. 76 - O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2, C.P.C. - [SOCIETIES ACT, O. 39] - The court discussed the dispute regarding membership of the Society and the applicability of S. 76 of the Co-operative Societies Act. The court held that the plaintiff fulfilled the necessary qualifications for membership and was entitled to carry the clinker from the GACL, Darlaghat. The court also emphasized the importance of complying with clear and unambiguous court orders.

Fact of the Case:

The plaintiff sought permanent prohibitory injunction against the defendants from withdrawing his vehicles or stopping him from lifting clinker from GACL Darlaghat. The defendants opposed the application, disputing the jurisdiction of the court and alleging that the suit was not maintainable.

Finding of the Court:

The trial judge dismissed the application, finding it prima facie barred under S. 76 of the Co-operative Societies Act. The District Judge, however, held that the plaintiff was entitled to carry the clinker and allowed the appeal, directing the defendants to refrain from obstructing the plaintiff's activities.

Issues: Dispute over membership qualifications, jurisdiction of the court, and compliance with court orders.

Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the importance of complying with clear and unambiguous court orders and held that the plaintiff fulfilled the necessary qualifications for membership.

Final Decision: The appeal was allowed, the orders of the District Judge were set aside, and the attachment of the property, if any, was vacated. The second appeal was dismissed, and there was no order as to costs.

Judgement

KULDIP CHAND SOOD, J. :- These two appeals arise out of a common order of learned District Judge, Solan dated October 12, 2001 in Application No. 355-A/6 of 2000.

2. In order to appreciate the controversy, necessary facts may be noticed. It appears plaintiff-R. D. Bhardwaj laid a suit before the learned Sub-Judge Ist Class,

Arki, for permanent prohibitory injunction with the allegations that he was a permanent resident of village Sehal in Pargana Sandhurt, Tehsil Arki, District Solan. He owned Truck No. HP-12-2009, HP-11-2209 and HP-11-4009. It was the case of the plaintiff that these trucks were deployed for lifting clinker from the factory of Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd., at Darlaghat (GACL, for short) sine April, 1997. The defendants-Sloan Distrit Truck Operators Co-operative Society Ltd., Darlaghat and Arki Tehsil Truk Operators Union, Darlaghat, used to provide clinker for transportation, on turn basis, to the plaintiff. The plaintiff had regularly been lifting the clinker on his turn, at par with the other truck owners of the residents of Tehsil Arki. The plaintiff was enrolled as Member with the defendant-respondent No. 2-Society on payment of necessary fees. It was his further case that the defendants stopped providing him clinker for carriage in his trucks on the ground that he was not the resident of Tehsil Arki. It was with these allegations that the plaintiff sought a permanent prohibitory injunction against the defendants from withdrawing the vehicles of the plaintiff or from stopping the plaintiff from lifting the clinker from the GACL Darlaghat.

3. Along with this suit, an application was moved by the plaintiff under O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2, C.P.C. praying for interim relief restraining the defendants from withdrawing the vehicle of the plaintiff from the "floor of the cement factory." The defendants opposed this application. It was the case of the defendants before the trial Court that application was filed without any cause of action and to cover up his lapses as certain requirements to be fulfilled under the bye-laws of the Society were not fulfilled by the plaintiff. It was the case of the defendants that the documents furnished by the plaintiff were forged/manipulated. It was alleged that the plaintiff misrepresented the facts when he obtained the membership of the Society. After scrutiny, his membership was found to be "under cloud" and the suit has been filed to pressurize the defendants. Another objection taken was that the suit was not maintainable as requisite notice under S. 76 of the Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 was not served on the Society. It was also the case of the defendants that the dispute between the parties was regarding the membership of the Society, which could only be agitated before the Forum constituted under the "Co-operative Societies Act" of Himachal Pradesh (Act for short) and not by way of civil suit. In the circumstances, the jurisdiction of the Court to hear the suit was disputed. The defendants pleaded that the plaintiff was a resident of Nalagarh and there was a separate Union at that place. It was that Union, which could sponsor the plaintiff, provided there was any surplus work, which could be allotted to the plaintiff in their Society. The defendants alleged that plaintiff had neither a prima facie case nor the balance of convenience in his favour and was not entitled to any interim relief.

4-5. Learned trial Judge, after going through the documents on record, pleadings and other material took a view that the suit was prima facie barred under S. 76 of the Act and, therefore, it cannot be said that the plaintiff had prima facie case in his favour. The application was accordingly dismissed.

6. Dissatisfied, the plaintiff filed an appeal before the learned District Judge, Solan which came to be decided on November 3, 2000. Learned District Judge took a view that notice under S. 76 of the Co-operative Societies Act was not required to be served upon the defend







































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