IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 21516 of 2008 Date of decision: 22.12.2008 Birbal Dass .....PETITIONER VERSUS Joint Registrar, Cooperative Society Punjab at Chandigarh and others ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Mr. Naveen Batra, Advocate, for the petitioner. *** AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. This petition has been filed challenging the order dated 13.10.2008 passed by the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies Punjab (Annexure P-3) and the order dated 31.12.2007 passed by the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies Samana, District Patiala (Annexure P-2) vide which the petitioner has been directed to deposit the arrears of salary and expenses, which according to the management of the Brass Cooperative Agriculture Services Society Ltd., Brass (hereinafter referred to '”the Society”), the petitioner has excessively drawn as salary for which he was not entitled to. It is the submission of the counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner was Secretary of the Society-respondent No. 4 and has worked CWP No. 21516 of 2008 -2- for nearly about 20 years for the Society. On the change of the management of the Society, the services of the petitioner were terminated illegally and mala fide on 25.01.2006. After termination of services of the petitioner, the Managing Committee of the Society initiated proceedings for recovery of Rs. 22,935/- as excess pay drawn by the petitioner for the period 01.01.1993 to 31.03.1998. The Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Punjab, referred the matter for adjudication to the Arbitrator-respondent No. 3. The Arbitrator vide his award dated 30.08.2006 gave the award in favour of the petitioner and held that the amount, which has been drawn by the petitioner as salary, was in accordance with the record and further held that there was nothing on the record that the amount was drawn illegally, copy of the award passed by the Arbitrator is attached as Annexure P-1. Against the award passed by the Arbitrator, the Society filed an appeal before the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Society, Samana- respondent No. 2. The Assistant Registrar accepted the appeal preferred by the Society holding therein that on the basis of the record, there is no detail except the day book and Rs. 22,935/- has been drawn by the Ex- Secretary by manipulating the records. Thereafter, the petitioner preferred a revision petition before the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Punjab, who has accepted the finding given by the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies to the effect that the petitioner has drawn excess salary to the tune of Rs. 22,935/- for the period 01.01.1993 to 31.03.1998. It is these orders, which have been challenged by the petitioner before this Court. Counsel for the petitioner, relying on a judgment passed by this Court in Krishan Kumar Sharma vs. Rajpur Sallahpur Cooperative Society, 2001 (4) SCT 463, contends that the award of the Arbitrator is in favour of the petitioner, which is a well reasoned and justified award based CWP No. 21516 of 2008 -3- on the records. He submits that once the petitioner has been exonerated as per the award, the findings given by respondent No. 1 and respondent No. 2 in their respective orders are not sustainable. He submits that the appointment of the Arbitrator itself was barred by limitation as according to him, under Section 54 of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, limitation for taking action after the expiry of six years from the date of an act or omission referred to in the sub section has been barred. On that basis, he submits that the arrears of pay drawn by the petitioner was for a period of 01.01.1993 to 31.03.1998 and, therefore, the Arbitrator could not have been appointed after a period of six years. He further submits that since the Arbitrator could not be appointed, the demand of recovery after the lapse of more than six years, cannot be allowed. This contention of the counsel for the petitioner cannot be accepted in the light of the fact that a specific finding has been given that the petitioner had manipulated the records for claiming excessive salary, which he was not entitled to. Further a perusal of Section 54(1) of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 would show that the same does not relate to the claim of the salary and as a matter of fact relate to persons, who are entrusted with the organization or Management of such Society, who is or has at any time been an officer or an amployee of the society and has made any payment contrary to this Act, the rules of the bye-laws or has caused any deficiency in the assets of the Society by breach of trust or wilful negligence or has misappropriate or fraudulently retained any money or other property belonging to such Society. A perusal of the same would, therefore, show that it does not deal with the situation in which the Arbitrator was appointed as in the present case, the petitioner, who was Secretary of the Society and himself was manipulating the CWP No. 21516 of 2008 -4- records to claim the salary. In view of the above, the contention as raised by the counsel for the petitioner cannot be sustained. Further, a person, who is given the responsibility to comply with and to see that the rules and regulations and the bye-laws of the Society are fully complied with, cannot be permitted to misuse his powers so as to gain undue benefit by misusing his authority for claiming undue benefit, which he is not entitled to under law. We do not find any merit in this petition and dismiss the same. ( ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA ) ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE JUDGE December 22, 2008 pj Whether referred to Reporters......................Yes/No.