THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.17762 OF 2008 DATED 18TH JULY, 2011 BETWEEN K.Mohan Reddy …Petitioner And The Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Jagityal, Karimnagar District and others. …Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.17762 OF 2008 ORDER: The petitioner assails the proceedings dated 09.04.2008 passed by the Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Jagtial, Karimnagar District, holding that he ceased to be a member of the Managing Committee of Co-operative Electric Supply Society Limited, Sircilla, and the consequential proceedings dated 03.06.2008 passed by the President of the Managing Committee of the said society rejecting his request for re-appointing him as a member of the Managing Committee. The action initiated against the petitioner by the Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Jagtial, Karimnagar District, under Show Cause Notice dated 19.03.2008, which culminated in the final impugned order dated 09.04.2008, was on the ground that he failed to attend three consecutive meetings of the Managing Committee of the society, thereby incurring disqualification under Section 21-B of the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 (for brevity, ‘the Act of 1964’). The ultimate authority of a co-operative society vests in its general body under Section 30 of the Act of 1964. Section 30(2)(i) empowers the general body to deal with removal of members of the committee. The Managing Committee constituted under Section 31 has its powers and functions delineated under Section 31-A of the Act of 1964. Section 31-A(4) clothes the Managing Committee with the power to recommend the removal of any of the committee members disqualified under Sections 21-A, 21-AA and 21-B of the Act of 1964. In the scheme of the above statutory provisions, the Registrar of Co-operative Societies or his officers have no role to play in effecting the cessation of a member of a committee under Section 21-B of the Act of 1964. This construction of the statutory provisions finds support in the observations of a learned Division Bench of this Court in VANCHA VEERA REDDY v. DISTRICT CO-OPERATIVE OFFICER, NALGONDA[1], wherein it was held that cessation of a membership under Section 21-A or Section 21-AA or Section 21-B of the Act of 1964 is not automatic but is subject to the decision of the general body of the society on the recommendations of the Managing Committee, though any resolution of the general body in favour of cessation of a member will take effect from the date of disqualification or cessation. The impugned proceedings dated 09.04.2008, viewed in the context of the above legal environment, therefore cannot be sustained as they are wholly without jurisdiction. As the very cessation of the petitioner’s membership of the Managing Committee was without legal basis, the subsequent rejection of his request for re-appointment under the proceedings dated 03.06.2008 cannot stand. The Writ Petition is accordingly allowed setting aside both the aforestated proceedings. This order shall however not preclude the Co-operative Electric Supply Society Limited, Sircilla, Karimnagar District, from initiating action afresh against the petitioner for cessation of his membership of the committee under Section 21-B of the Act of 1964 for his failure to attend three consecutive meetings, which was the subject matter of the impugned proceedings, in accordance with law and the due procedure. Miscellaneous petitions in the writ petition shall stand dismissed in the light of this final order. Parties shall bear their own costs. ____________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J. 18TH JULY, 2011. VGSR/PGS [1] 2010 (3) ALD 526 (DB)