JUDGMENT

Sanjay Kumar, CJ. - The Imphal Urban Co-operative Bank Limited is a co-operative society registered under the Manipur Co-operative Societies Act, 1976, (for brevity, 'the Act of 1976'). As per its Bye-law No. 32, the management of the affairs of the Bank is to vest in a Board of Directors which would have a term of 5 years. The Bye-law provides that one month before the expiry of the term of the outgoing Board, the Bank must call for a Representative General Meeting to elect new members and such election is to be conducted by an independent body/authority constituted by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Manipur (in short, 'the Registrar'), in accordance with the Election Rules of the Bank.

2. However, it appears that there was no election to the Board of Directors of the Bank for a long time which led to the filing of writ petitions, viz., W.P. (C) Nos. 536 and 549 of 2017, before this Court. These writ petitions were allowed by common order dated 06.09.2017, whereby the Registrar was directed to ensure that election to the Board of Directors of the Bank was held within a time frame. Institution of Contempt Case (C) No. 205 of 2017, alleging disobedience to the order