IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE NINETEENTH DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No. 29301 of 1997 Between: 1 Asapu Veera Vara Prasad Rao S/o Veera Raju 2 Asapu Sugunaratnam W/o Sathyanarayana 3 Asapu Suryakantham W/o Veeraju 4 Padala Satyavati W/o.Nageswara Rao 5 Padala Nagaratnam W/o.Abbai 6 Kommana Nukalamma W/o sanyasa Rao 7 Muppana Parvathi W/o Chinnabbai 8 Muppana Veerabhadra Rao s/o Veerraju 9 Padala Saibaba s/o Hanumantha Rao 10 Padala Hanumantha Rao s/o Bulliabbai 11 Padala Suri Babu s/o Hanumanth Rao 12 Smt Padala Veeraju w/o Hanumanth Rao 13 Padala Satya Chamundeswari w/o Suri babu 14 Padala Achutamba w/o saibabu 15 Inumarthi Nagarathnam w/o Surya rao 16 Padala Suryakantam w/o Surya rao 17 Padala China Satyavati w/o Bhaskar Rao 18 Parisetti Sanyasa Rao S/o.Satyam 19 Chandana Omnassivaya S/o.Nagabhushanam, 20 Malipeddi Peddamma W/o.Veerraju 21 Kalepu Chinnayamma, W/o Bangarayya 22 Kondapalli Shyamala, W/o.Veerraju, 23 Asapu Satyanarayana S/o Veerraju 24 Donthamusetti Srinivasu, S/o.Surya Rao, 25 Asapu Yugandhari, S/o.Veeravara Prasad 26 Padala China Suryakantam, W/o.Krishna Rao, 27 Battula Veera Venkata Laxmi W/o.Nageswara Rao 28 Golla Naga Kanakadurga W/o.Veerabhadra Vara Prasad 29 Asapu Mallikharjuna Rao S/o.Veerraju, 30 Asapu Bhadram, S/o.Mallikarjuna Rao, 31 Donthamsetti Nageswara Rao S/o.Veeranna, 32 Padala Surya Rao, S/o.Bulliabbay 33 Goru Pallapu Raju S/o.Nagaraju, 34 Goru Nooka Raju, S/o.Veerabhadra Rao 35 Inumarthi Bhaskara Rao S/o.Mallanna 36 Inumarthi Satyanarayana, S/o.Tatabbai 37 Muppanna Bulli Abbay, S/o.Mallikarjuna Rao 38 Malipeddi Suryakantam, W/o.Verraju 39 Goru Jayaprakasa Rao S/o Satyanarayana 40 Goru Bhubhavati, W/o.Subrmanyam, 41 Goru Ganesh, W/o.Satyanarayana 42 Goru Jogamma, S/o.Bheemaiah 43 Mondi Bhanumathi, W/o.Somasekharam 44 Mondi Somaraju W/o.Somayya 45 Muppana Ramarajyam W/o.Verraju 46 Mavuri Annapurna W/o.Verraju, 47 Kondamalla Bhavani W/o.Laxmana Rao 48 Kondamalla Laxmana Rao S/o Gavaraiah 49 Bachu Bandari, S/o.Paidaiah, 50 Bachhu Veera Bramaramba, W/o.Basavaraju, 51 Budida Parvathi W/o Somasekharam 52 Padala Veera Venkata Satyanarayana S/o Krishna Rao 53 Padala Balachandramouleeswara Rao s/o Surya Rao 54 Mondi Somasekharam s/o Somaraju 55 Padala Gandhi s/o Padda Abbai 56 Jatla Yellaraiah s/o Nagalingam 57 Jatla Veerabhadra Swami s/o Yallaraiah 58 Manem Mallikharjuna Rao s/o Linga Raju 59 Bachhu Naga Veera Venkata Satyanarayana s/o Basavaraju 60 Jatla Satyanarayana s/o satyam 61 Balla Bhavani w/o Malleswara Rao 62 Bondapalli Bheemeswara Rao s/o Subba Rao 63 Tsappati Veera Hanumantha Rao s/o Surya Rao 64 Bondapalli Srisailam s/o Bhadram 65 Bondapalli Venkateswara Rao s/o Bhadram 66 Jakkam Kantam w/o Venkateswara Rao 67 Donthamsetti Rajakumari w/o Satyanarayana 68 Yarra Nagamani w/o Babu rao 69 Yarra Achhutamba w/o Subramanyam 70 Battula Srinivasu s/o Rama Rap 71 Yarra Nagamani w/o Lingaiah 72 Yarra Parvathi w/o Veerraju 73 Yarra Srinivasu s/o Veerabhadra Rao 74 Padala Satyavati w/o Satyanarayana 75 Padala Satyanarayana s/o Pedda Abbai 76 Padala Bulli Abbay s/o Satyanaayana 77 Padala Annapurna w/o Gandhi 78 Muppana Veerraju s/o Rama Rao 79 Muppana Viswanatham s/o Veerraju 80 Muppana Somaraju s/o China Veerabhadra Rao 81 Mavuri Kasiviswantham s/o Gurraiah 82 Goru Appala Raju s/o Sarabhaiah 83 Bondapalli Subba Rao s/o Rama Rao 84 Yarra Satyanarayana s/o Nukanna 85 Jalagam Bhaskara Rao s/o Mallilarjuna rao 86 Kommana Nookaratnam s/o Suryaprakasa Rao 87 Batta Veerabhadram s/o Bapiraju 88 Chinta Sattamma w/o Bulliyya 89 Golla Ramalingeswara Rao s/o Mallikharjuna Rao 90 Pesala Suryaprakasa Rao S/o Subbaraju (All are residents of Peddapuram, E.G.district) ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Director of Handlooms & Textiles Government of Andhra Pradesh 4th Floor, BRK Bhavan, Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad. 2 District Collector, East Godavari District Kakinada. 3 Asst. Director, Handlooms & Textiles. Gandhi Nagar Kakinada 4 The Peddapuram Cotton & Silk Handloom Weavers Cooperative Production & sale Society Ltd (NO.B/255), Peddapuram East Godavari District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction declaring the action of the 3rd Respondents in proposing to remove the names of the petitioners from the 4th Respondent society on the ground of not owning individual looms as illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the A.P Cooperative Societies Act. Counsel for the Petitioner : Mr.O.MANOHAR REDDY Counsel for Respondents : Mr.S.RAVINDRANATH The Court made the following : ORDER: Questioning the action of the 3rd Respondents in proposing to remove the names of the petitioners from the 4th Respondent society on the ground of not owning individual looms, the present writ petition is filed. When the matter is taken up today for hearing, it is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners and conceded by the learned counsel appearing for respondents that the subject matter of this writ petition is squarely covered by a judgment of this Court dated 10.9.1998 in W.P.No. 8938 of 1997 and batch, wherein this Court considered similar issue and allowed the same with the following observations: “………….. Further, the concerned authority appears to have proceeded on the assumption that owning of a loom is necessary criterion for eligibility for membership of Weavers Cooperative Society. But a reading of Explanation I(ii) of Section 19 of the A.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1964, in which the term ‘Weaver’ has been defined, would make it clear that weaver is one who attends to operations of weaving of cloth or fabric or product on the loom whether such operation is carried on in private dwelling house or any other place and is dependant on weaving as profession and income thereof. Thus, owning of a loom is not an essential condition for admission of a weaver as a member. What is required is that he should be dependant on weaving as his profession and source of income and whether he carries on Weaving in a private dwelling house or any other place ownership of a loom is not necessary. On this ground also, the impugned order which appears to proceed on the assumption that owning of a loom is a condition precedent for a membership of the society is bad. At any rate, as it has been held that the principles of natural justice have been violated, the impugned orders are set aside. However, it is open to the respondents, if they are so advised, to conduct fresh enquiry after giving adequate opportunities to the petitioners to make their representations, if necessary, by giving an opportunity of personal hearing and adduce evidence. In the result, the writ petitions are allowed and the impugned orders are set aside. No costs”. In the circumstances, following the above judgment, this writ petition is also allowed for the same and similar reasons. No costs. _____________ N.V.RAMANA, J Date: 19.4.2005 DA/SVV That Rule Nisi has been made absolute as above. Witness, the Hon’ble Sri Bilal Nazki, the Acting Chief Justice on this Tuesday, Nineteenth day of April, Two Thousand and five. …… REGISTRAR // true copy // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The Director of Handlooms & Textiles Government of Andhra Pradesh 4th Floor, BRK Bhavan, Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad. 2 District Collector, East Godavari District Kakinada 3 Asst. Director, Handlooms & Textiles, Gandhi Nagar, Kakinada. 4 The Peddapuram Cotton & Silk Handloom Weavers Cooperative Production & sale Society Ltd (NO.B/255), Peddapuram East Godavari District. 5 Two CD copies.