IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.7223 of 2009 Date of decision: 22nd September, 2010 Satnam Singh and others … Petitioners Versus The Secretary, Cooperative Societies Punjab Chandigarh and others … Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. J.S. Thind, Advocate for the petitioners. Ms. Ambika Luthra, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for the State. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present writ petition has been filed by the office bearers of the Gehri Mandi Co-operative Marketing cum Processing Society Ltd., Gehri Mandi, Tehsil and District Amritsar (hereinafter referred to as, ‘the Society’). The office bearers of the Society have challenged the impugned order (Annexure P-10) dated 26th November, 2007 whereby the Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Amritsar had removed the managing committee of the Society and had appointed an Administrator. This order was challenged in appeal also but the appellate authority, vide its order (Annexure P-18) dated 26th December, 2008 upheld the order of removal and appointment of the Administrator. Aggrieved against the same, the petitioners had filed a revision petition, which was also dismissed vide order dated 25th March, 2009 (Annexure P-22) by the Secretary, Cooperation, Punjab. Civil Writ Petition No.7223 of 2009 The primary reason for removal of the managing committee of the Society, as stated is that the Society had held a meeting on 18th January, 2006 to decrease the salaries of employees of the Society and another meeting on 8th February, 2006 to increase the salaries, without issuing any agenda or notice to the members of the committee. It is not disputed that the present committee came into existence on 17th August, 2005 and its term of five years has already come to an end. Therefore, determining the validity of the impugned order (Annexure P-10) affirmed by the appellate authority vide order (Annexure P-18) and by the revisional authority vide order (Annexure P- 22), will be a futile and academic exercise. The grounds, on which the managing committee of the Society was removed, according to counsel are hyper-technical, but this Court will refrain to determine the issue as to whether the managing committee of the Society was validly removed or not. However, it is clarified that any of the observations made in these orders will neither be construed as stigmatic nor as a reflection on the conduct of the members of the society. Having said so, this Court is of the opinion that to manage the affairs of the Society, its managing committee should be place at the earliest. Therefore, the Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Amritsar is directed to hold a fresh election of the managing committee of the Society in accordance with the provisions of law. The election shall be concluded and the new office bearers so elected shall take over the charge of affairs of the Society within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. With the observations made above, present writ petition is disposed of. 2 Civil Writ Petition No.7223 of 2009 A copy of this order, attested by the Special Secretary of this Court, be handed over to counsel for the State for onward transmission and compliance. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE September 22, 2010 rps 3