2906wp2700.11.odt 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR W.P.NO.2700 of 2011 Rukminidevi Shankarlal Agrawal and ors. ..vs.. The Collector and others. ............................................................................................................................................................... Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders Court's or Judge's order of directions and Registrar's orders ............................................................................................................................................................... Mr. A.S.Jaiswal, Adv. for the petitioners. Mr. A.M.Ghare, Adv. for respondent no.3. CORAM : R.M.SAVANT, J. DATED : 29th June, 2011. 1. The above writ petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India takes exception to the order dated 26/5/2011 passed by the Collector, Gondhia, who is the Authority under whose aegis the elections to the respondent no.3 – specified Society – is to take place. By the said order, the Collector has rejected the application of the petitioners for inclusion of their names in the provisional voters’ list. 2. The petitioners are the legal heirs of Late Shankarlal Lodhulal Agrawal, who are the share-holders of the respondent no.3 – Bank. The said Shankarlal died on 5/9/2005. It appears that thereafter the petitioners had applied for transfer of the shares in their names. On the respondent no.3 – Bank, failing to take cognizance of the said 2906wp2700.11.odt 2 application, the petitioners were constrained to apply under Section 30 of the Maharashtra Co-Operative Societies Act, 1960 before the Divisional Joint Registrar. The Divisional Joint Registrar by his order dated 10/9/2007 partly allowed the said application and directed the respondent no.3 – Bank to admit the petitioners as members being the heirs/nominees of said Shankarlal Lodhulal Agrawal. It appears that the respondent no.3 – Bank challenged the order passed by the Divisional Joint Registrar in W.P.No.4302 of 2008 which writ petition came to be dismissed by a learned Single Judge of this court against which the Letters Patent Appeal has been filed, which has been admitted without any interim relief granted which can have a bearing on the present matter. Hence, the order passed by the Divisional Joint Registrar directing the respondent no.3 to grant membership to the petitioners holds the field. It appears that the respondent no.3 thereafter on 27/9/2010 resolved to confer membership on the petitioners with retrospective effect from 9/6/2009 subject to the decision of the Letters Patent Appeal. 3. The impugned order indicates that the inclusion of names of the petitioners in the voters list is rejected on the ground that the petitioners have been conferred membership only from 9/6/2009 and therefore in terms of Rule 4 of the Maharashtra Specified Co-operative Societies Election to Committee Rules, 1971, the petitioners do not have the requisite qualification to be enrolled as members in the ensuing elections namely; they have not completed two years of membership prior to the cut off date. 4. In my view, the said reason is unsustainable in the 2906wp2700.11.odt 3 conspectus of the facts, as stated herein above, wherein there is an order passed by the Divisional Joint Registrar dated 10/9/2007 directing the respondent no.3 to grant membership to the petitioners, the fact that the respondent no.3 has passed a Resolution only on 27/9/2010, notwithstanding the said order dated 10/9/2007, cannot therefore operate against the petitioners. In that view of the matter, the impugned order dated 26/5/2011 is set aside and the Collector, Gondia is directed to include the names of the petitioners in the final voters’ list. Rule is accordingly made absolute. Parties to bear their own costs. JUDGE chute