S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. The meaningful question whether a Society registered under the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 , is amenable to the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been reagitated before the Full Bench.

2. In view of the pristinely legal nature of the issue aforesaid, it is unnecessary to recount the facts in detail. Suffice it to mention that the petitioner Ajmer Singh was employed as a Field Inspector in the Punjab State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Ltd. (hereinafter called Markfed) which admittedly is registered under the Co-operative Societies Act. The Managing Director of the Markfed by his order dated the 13th of November, 1978 (annexure-P. 2) dismissed the petitioner from service and his appeal against the said order was in turn dismissed by its Administrator vide annexure-P. 5. The writ petition sought to challenge the orders of dismissal and its affirmance in appeal. At the motion stage, a preliminary objection was raised on behalf of the respondent-Markfed that no writ petition was maintainable against a Co-operative Society. On behalf of the petitioner, however, reliance was firmly placed on the