WP(C) 3058/2007 BEFORE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE B.P.KATAKEY The petitioner, who was elected as Chairman of Dukhmochan Samabai Samity Ltd, Ko upati in the district of Darrang and stated to have held its first meeting on 19 .09.2006, by the present petition is challenging the order dated 30.05.2007 pass ed by the Zonal Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tezpur Zone, Tezpur co nstituting a one-man Ad hoc Committee headed by Shri Dhukhuram Deka, Junior Insp ector Cooperative Society (Respondent No.5) to manage the affairs of the said so ciety in exercise of powers conferred under Section 32(3) of the Assam Cooperati ve Societies Act, 1949 (hereinafter for short ’the Act’) on the ground that the management of the Society has failed to hold its Annual General Meeting of 2007- 2008 within the time allowed under Section 32 of the said Act and consequently t he Managing Committee of the said Society stood automatically dissolved under Se ction 31(4) of the Act. I have heard Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner, Mr. J. Handique, learned State Counsel appearing for the Respond ent Nos. 1 to 4 and Mr. M.U. Mahmud, learned counsel for the Respondent No.6 nam ely Shri Faruk Abdullah, who has been directed to be impleaded as party responde nt by the writ appellate Court vide order dated 05.08.2008 passed in Writ Appeal No. 277/2007 arising out of challenge made by him to the interim order dated 22 .06.2007 whereby and whereunder operation of the present impugned order dated 30 .05.2007 has been directed to be suspended. It appears from the record of the wr it petition that in spite of such direction issued by the appellate court, the R egistry has not corrected the cause title. Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel referring to the provisions contained in proviso to sub-section (2) of Section 32 of the Act as well as sub -section (3) of Section 32 has submitted that since the management of the societ y pursuant to their resolution dated 18.05.2007 adopted in the meeting of the Ex ecutive Committee of the Society filed an application before the Registrar on 24 .05.2007 i.e. within 60 days from the date of expiry of the preceding cooperativ e year, the Registrar is duty bound to decide the said application either by acc epting the prayer made or by rejecting the same. According to Mr. Choudhury, wit hout deciding such application pending before the Registrar the Joint Zonal Regi strar passed the impugned order dated 31.05.2007 appointing the one-man Ad hoc C ommittee to maintain the affairs of the Society till a new body is elected or fo rmed. Mr. Choudhury, however, submits that though there was an interim order pas sed by this Court on 22.06.2007 as aforesaid, the society is presently being man aged by another Society and has been attached to the said society by an order pa ssed by the competent authority, which order, however, has not been challenged b y the petitioner or by any one before this Court in view of pendency of the pres ent writ petition. Mr. Choudhury, therefore, submits that the present writ petit ion may be disposed with direction to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, As sam to dispose of the representation dated 24.05.2007 filed by the Chairman of t he Society i.e. the present petitioner in accordance with law and in the event t he Registrar allows such petition, the Managing Committee elected in the month o f September, 2006 may be allowed to hold the Annual General Meeting and continue to manage the society in accordance with law. Mr. J. Handique, learned State counsel appearing for the Respond ent No.1 to 4 has submitted that it is apparent from the affidavit filed by the Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies before the writ appellate court in Writ Appeal No.277/07 that as the petitioner in the said representation dated 24.05. 2007 did not show such sufficient ground for extension of time, the prayer could not be granted and in fact the petitioner society was verbally informed about t hat position during their visit to the office of the Joint Registrar. Learned St ate Counsel, however, has stated that no written order has been passed on the sa id application dated 24.05.2007. Mr.M.U. Mahmud, learned counsel appearing for the Respondent No. 6 Faruk Abdullah has also supported the submission made by the learned State Cou nsel and submitted that the application dated 24.05.2007 discloses no ground for grant of extension. Mr. Mahmud, however, has fairly submitted that since the ap plication has been filed, the same has to be dealt with by the Registrar and he is duty bound to pass order either accepting or rejecting it, which has not been done in the instant case. There is no dispute that the petitioner society filed the applic ation before the Registrar requesting to give them time to hold the Annual Gener al Meeting on 29.05.2007. Admittedly, such application has not been disposed of by passing any order in writing by the Registrar. It is also apparent from the a ffidavit filed by the Joint Registrar in the Writ Appeal No.277/07, a copy of wh ich is made available before this Court that according to the Joint Registrar, t he petitioner society was verbally informed, though sub-section (3) of Section 3 2 requires passing of order by Registrar and communication of the same to the so ciety applying extension by registered post, in both the case, granting extensio n or refusing the same. In view of the aforesaid position, I dispose of the present writ petition with direction to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam to con sider and dispose of the representation dated 24.05.2007 and pass necessary orde r on such application as required under sub-section (3) of Section 32 of the Act and communicate the same to the petitioner society as required under thelaw. Su ch order shall be passed by the Registrar within 15 days from the date of receip t of the certified copy of this order to be produced by the petitioner before th e Registrar. Till such decision is taken by the Registrar on such application, s tatus quo as regards management of the society as on date shall be maintained. I t is made clear that in case the prayer for extension of time is allowed by the Registrar, the elected body of the society shall be allowed to hold the annual g eneral meeting within such time that may be allowed by the Registrar and in case such extension is refused, the Registrar shall take necessaryaction as required under Section 32 of the Act. Considering the submissions of the learned counsel for the parti es for allowing them to participate in the proceeding before the Registrar and s uch submissions having not been opposed by the learned State counsel, the Regist rar is directed to pass appropriate order in accordance with law after hearing t he petitioner as well as Respondent No.6. Both the petitioner and the Respondent No.6 shall appear before the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam on 18.09 .2008 on which date the petitioner shall produce a copy of the writ petition alo ng with Annexures appended thereto and also a certified copy of this order befor e the Registrar of Cooperative Societies for doing the needful. Writ petition stands disposed of with no order as to costs.