WP(C) 3907/2008 BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE H.N.SARMA Heard Mr. N.K.Barua, learned counsel for the petitioner and also Ms. K. Devi, le arned Govt Advocate for the state respondents. This writ petition is filed against the impugned order dated 1.7 .08 passed by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Guwahati, Assam, thereby rejecting the petition dated 26.3.2008 filed by the petitioner for allowing him to hold the office of the Chairman of Jatinga Co-operative Society Ltd for a p eriod of 3 years from the date of approval of the AGM and election by the Assist ant Registrar Co-operative Societies. The petitioner though was elected in the A nnual General Meeting of the society held on 16.8.07, but the approval could not be granted due to some litigation. Ultimately, approval was granted on 17th Aug ust, 2007 by the Assistant Registrar Co-operative Societies, Silchar affirming t he election of the body headed by the petitioner as its Chairman. On getting suc h approval the first meeting of the society was held on 16.8.2007. On 26.3.08 t he petitioner prayed for allowing him to continue as Chairman for a period of 3 years without holding the AGM/election and the same was rejected by the Registra r, Cooperative Societies vide impugned order dated 1.7.2008. By the said impugne d order, failure of the society to hold the AGM within the time fixed U/s.32 of the Act, the Registrar, Co-operative Societies appointed a departmental officer to manage the affairs of the societies with direction to the departmental office r for holding AGM and election which is due on May, 2008. The said officer was a lso directed to hold the AGM and election of the society within 90 days from the date of the impugned order dated 1.7.08. Challenging the impugned order, the learned counsel for the peti tioner submits that the first meeting of the petitioner’s society under the Chai rmanship of the petitioner was held on 16.8.07 and as such the petitioner is ent itled to continue his full term of 3 years w.e.f. 16.8.2007 to 15.8.2010 as per Rule 27 of the Assam Co-operative Societies Rules, 1953. Section 32 of the Assam Cooperative Societies Act provides for holding the general meeting of the general assembly of a registered society at least once in every Co-operative year for the purpose mentioned thereunder. Suc h meeting shall be held within the period of 60 days from the date of expiry of the preceding co-operative year. Section 32 interalia provides for holding the general Meeting of the general assembly of a registered society at least once in every cooperative year for the purpose mentioned thereunder. Such meeting shall be held within th e period of 60 days from the date of expiry of the preceding cooperative year. The cooperative year as defined in Section 2(f) means the period beginning and e nding on such dates as may be fixed for drawing up the balance sheets of regist ered societies. It is not disputed at the Bar that as per the notification issue d by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies,, Assam cooperative year begins on t he Ist of April of a year and ends on 31st March of the next calendar year. It c oincides with the financial year of the state. Accordingly as per Sec. 32(2) of the Act, an annual general meeting of a society for the purpose as mentioned und er Section 32 (1)(a) to Section 32(1) (g) of the Act is statutorily required to be held within 31st May of the next cooperative year extending the period of 60 days as provided under sub-section (2) of Section 32. However, the proviso to Se ction 32(2) of the Act, provides that, if for any reason, the AGM cannot be held within the statutory period any society may by application made within the afor esaid period of 60 days to the Registrar pray for extension of tike for holding meeting stating the grounds for which the meeting, cannot be held, and also the grounds for which the managing body should not stand dissolved under Section 32( 4). The period for which extension is sought for shall also be specifically sta ted in the application. When such an application for extension of time is made a nd the Registrar is of the opinion that it should be granted, and that there are good grounds for which the managing bodies should not stand dissolved, by an or der grant extension for any period but not exceeding thirty (30) days from the d ate of passing of the order. If the Registrar is of the opinion that no extensio n should be granted he shall by an order reject the same. In both cases, the or der passed by the Registrar is required to communicate by registered post to the society applying extension. The consequence of failure to hold meeting within t he period of 60 days from the date of expiry of the preceding cooperative year o r within the extended period as may be granted by the Registrar on the applicati on of the society or when no such extension is granted before the expiry of twen ty (20) days from the date of communication of the order of Registrar, the admin istrative council and/or the managing body of the society shall stand dissolved from the date of expiry of such period. Thus on the happenings of the aforesaid events and eventual failure of the society to hold the AGM, the manage body of t he society is dissolved automatically without passing any further order to that effect. In the event of such dissolution, the Registrar is authorized under Sect ion 32(4) to appoint officer/officers or to form an ad hoc body to manage the af fairs of the society and to perform the functions of the managing committee till a new body is elected or formed. If such an officer or an administrative body a ppointed by a Registrar under Sec 32 (4) it shall arrange to hold the AGM of the General Assembly of the society within 90 days from such appointment. However, the State Govt counsel may allow in its discretion further time to hold the AGM, not exceeding 1 year under proviso to sec. 32 (6) of the Act. The AGM of a soc iety is required to be held under Sec. 32 of the Act for the purpose of continui ng its function as a cooperative society and to discharge the functions and resp onsibilities as defined under the Act, Rules and bye-laws of the society, at the end of the cooperative year. The holding of the AGM once in a cooperative year is a mandatory requirement under the statute. The consequence of not holding su ch meeting can be visualized from a bare reading of Clause (a) to (g) of sub-sec tion (1) of Section 32 of the Act. The AGM of the General Assembly of the societ y is to adopt resolution fixing the maximum amount of liability to incur during the ensuing year and the maximum rate of interest payable on the deposit, for el ecting an internal auditor, for passing the annual budget and approving the prog ramme of works for the ensuring year deciding how the profits are to be distribu ted in accordance with the bye-laws and to consider such other business as may b e placed before the meeting in accordance with the bye-law, apart from electing the members to the administrative council l/managing body and other committees o f the society, the Chairman, Vice Chairman and other officer bearers as provided under the Bye law. Thus holding of the election to constitute a new managing b ody is not the only agenda in the AGM There are also other business to be conduc ted in the AGM as indicated in Section 32(1) without which the function of the s ociety would come to a standstill and here lies the importance of holding the AG M of the society once in every co-operative year In view of the above statutory provision, the right of the petit ioner to continue as Chairman of the society has already extinguishes and the m anaging committee of the society having been dissolved by operation of Section 3 2 of the Act, the impugned order cannot be said to be illegal, unjust and improp er. Accordingly, the writ petition has no merit. In the above circumstances, it is directed that the AGM of th e society shall be held by the departmental officer, who is now managing the aff airs of the society, namely, Jatinga Co-operative Society Ltd, within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the copy of this order. It shall be re sponsibility of the Respondent Nos. 2 and 3 to comply with the direction. With the above observations and directions, the writ petition st ands disposed of.