WP(C) 6624/2007 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B. P. KATAKEY The petitioners, who were elected as Chairman and Vice Chairman of Dhoni pur Gaon Panchayat Samabai Samity Ltd., as society registered under the provisio ns of the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 1949, in the Annual General Meeting h eld on 30.05.2007, by the present petition have challenged the order dated 01.11 .2007 passed by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam, constituting an a dhoc committee consisting of 16 members to manage the affairs of the said societ y with a direction to hold the Annual General Meeting of the society within 90 d ays and also praying for a direction to the official respondents to allow them a s well as the members, who have been nominated by the Registrar of Cooperative S ocieties vide order dated 16.10.2007, to manage the affairs of the said society. 2. The facts which are not in dispute and relevant for the purpose of this case may be noticed as under: Pursuant to the notice dated 12.05.2007 issued by the Secretary of the s ociety, the Annual General Meeting of the said society was held on 30.05.2007, w here the election to the various offices of the managing committee of the said s ociety was also held. In the said meeting, the petitioner No.1 was elected as Ch airman and the petitioner No.2 was elected as the Vice Chairman of the society, apart from 9 other members, who were elected to the said managing committee. The proceeding of the election was thereafter sent to the appropriate authority for approval, which was approved by the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societie s, Hailakandi on 31.05.2007. The first meeting of the elected managing committee headed by the petitioner No.1 as Chairman was held on 19.06.2007. While the sai d society was managed by the elected body, 7 out of total 9 elected members of t he managing committee resigned as members of the managing committee on 04.10.200 7. The Zonal Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Silchar, in view of the s aid position, passed an order on 12.10.2007 appointing an officer of the departm ent to manage the affairs of the society. The Registrar of Cooperative Societies , thereafter, on 16.10.2007 nominated 5 members to the Cooperative Societies pur portedly in exercise of the power conferred by Rule 29(i) of the Assam Cooperati ve Societies Rules, 1953 (in short the Rules). The Registrar of Cooperative Soci eties, thereafter on 01.11.2007 passed another order, which is impugned in the p resent writ petition, appointing a 16 member adhoc committee, which includes the elected members who have resigned. By the said order, the order dated 12.10.200 7 of the Zonal Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies as well as the order dat ed 16.10.2007 passed by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies have been superse ded. The petitioners have filed this present writ petition challenging the said order dated 01.11.2007 and also praying for allowing them to manage the affairs of the society with the members nominated by the Registrar vide order dated 16.1 0.2007. 3. I have heard Dr. B. Ahmed, the learned counsel for the petitioners and M r. Soren, the learned State counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos.1 to 5. None appears for the respondent Nos.6 to 21 despite service of notices. 4. Dr. Ahmed referring to the provisions contained in Rule 29(i) of the Rul es has submitted that since the Registrar of Cooperative Societies under the sai d provision can nominate the members to the managing committee and the Registrar vide order dated 16.10.2007 having nominated 5 members, there was absolutely no justification to pass the order dated 01.11.2007 by the Registrar appointing a multi member adhoc committee by replacing an elected committee with the petition ers as Chairman and Vice Chairman. According to Dr. Ahmed, the Registrar having nominated 5 members to the managing committee vide order dated 16.10.2007 ought to have allowed the elected body to function, but instead, has virtually dissolv ed the elected body by appointing a multi member adhoc committee, which is again st the spirit of managing the society by an elected body. Dr. Ahmed, therefore, submits that the order dated 01.11.2007 passed by the Registrar, appointing a mu lti member adhoc committee requires to be interfered with and the respondents ma y be directed to allow the petitioners to manage the affairs of the society with the 5 nominated members, who have been nominated by the Registrar vide order da ted 16.10.2007. 5. Mr. Soren, the learned State counsel supporting the action on the part o f the Registrar in issuing the order dated 01.11.2007 and referring to the averm ents made in the affidavit-in-opposition filed, has submitted that since 7 out o f 9 elected members resigned from the managing committee, the Registrar had no a lternative but to pass the order dated 01.11.2007 appointing an adhoc committee to manage the affairs of the said society, which was done keeping in view the be st interest of the society and its shareholders. It has further been submitted t hat such adhoc committee was constituted vide order dated 01.11.2007 for a perio d of 90 days only, which period has already expired and the society is presently managed by an officer of the department, who shall make all endeavour to hold t he election of the society immediately. Referring to the order dated 16.10.2007 passed by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Mr. Soren further submits that Rule 29(i) of the Rules empowers the Registrar to nominate such number of perso ns as members in the managing committee as stipulated in the byelaws and in the instant case the Registrar had nominated 5 members, though admittedly under the byelaws only 2 members can be nominated by the Registrar. In any case, according to Mr. Soren, even if, the Registrar has the power to nominate 5 members, as ha s been done vide order dated 16.10.2007, there would not be any quorum for holdi ng the meeting of the managing committee since 8 members of the managing committ ee forms the quorum and two petitioners with 5 such nominated members cannot the refore hold the meeting of the managing committee. 6. It is an admitted position of fact that out of 9 elected members of the managing committee 7 have resigned. There are altogether 11 members elected incl uding the Chairman and the Vice Chairman in the election held on 30.05.2007. Aft er resignation by 7 members, the number of elected members reduced to 4. As has been submitted by Dr. Ahmed, the learned counsel for the petitioners, the quorum for holding the meeting of the managing committee under the byelaw of the socie ty is 8. The Registrar by the order dated 16.10.2007 though nominated 5 members to the managing committee purportedly in exercise of the power conferred by Rule 29(i) of the Rules, which empowers the Registrar to nominate such number of mem bers to the managing committee as has been stipulated in the byelaws, the byelaw s of the society, as has been admitted by Dr. Ahmed, the learned counsel for the petitioners, provides that the Registrar can nominate only two members to the m anaging committee and not 5 as has been done by order dated 16.10.2007. The Regi strar’s power of nomination being limited to 2, the two petitioners along with t wo other elected persons and the two persons to be nominated by the Registrar co uld not form the quorum for the purpose of holding the meeting of the managing c ommittee, as the quorum for holding such meeting is admittedly 8. That being the position, the present petitioners, who were elected as Chairman and the Vice Ch airman could not have managed the affairs of the society in the absence of adequ ate number of members in the managing committee. The Registrar of Cooperative So cieties, therefore, has rightly constituted an adhoc committee to manage the aff airs of the society. 7. The question of validity or otherwise the order dated 01.11.2007 constit uting a multi member adhoc committee with the persons who have resigned, is not required to be gone into in the present writ petition as the period for which th e multi member committee was constituted has already expired. It is not in dispu te that the society in question is presently managed by an officer of the depart ment, after expiry of the period for which the multi member committee was consti tuted vide order dated 01.11.2007. 8. That being the position, the relief as claimed in the present petition c annot be allowed. At the same time the society cannot be allowed to be managed b y the officer of the department, which if allowed, would go against the concept of management of the society by the elected body. Hence the Registrar of Coopera tive Societies, respondent No.2, is directed to take required steps for holding the Annual General Meeting of the society, for the purpose of election of the me mbers of the managing committee including the Chairman and the Vice Chairman, im mediately and in any case within a period of 2(two) months from today. 9. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. No cost.