The Directors, the Secretary, the Jewel Appraiser, the Cashier and some of the Clerks of the Bodinaicknur Cardamom and Coffee Planters Co-operative Bank Limited were surcharged under section 71 of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1961, for having mismanaged the affairs of the Bank and for having committed wilful negligence as also breach of trust in relation to the property of the Bank and thereby caused a deficit to the assets of the Bank to the extent of Rs. 1,63,179. The Bank gives loans from and out of its liquid assets to members for certain recognised purposes on the pledge of gold jewels amongst other articles. The by-laws of the Bank, which have been noticed by this Court, vest several responsibilities and obligations on the officers of the Bank. we are here concerned with by-law No. 44 which deals with loans on the security of gold jewels and bullion. The usual process by which an application for the grant of a loan on the pledge of a gold jewel is admittedly as follow. An application form is made out to the Secretary. The Secretary passes on the jewel to the Appraiser of the Bank who is obliged under the by-laws to correctly evaluate the gold content of t