Pralhad & Ors vs Deorao & Ors

3. Respondent No. 3 is a society registered under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 (for short, "the Act"). It was registered on or about 4.12.1991. The State of Maharashtra is said to have been holding share capital of Rs.26 lakhs therein. Its contribution is said to be running into several crores of rupees. No effort, however, was made for running and managing its affairs for a long time. As no action had been taken for the said purpose, no share was collected and no meeting was held.

4. On or about 6.6.1995, the State of Maharashtra appointed a first Committee to manage the affairs of the society consisting of 13 persons for a period of three years. The said Committee is also said to have taken 3 no step for effective functioning of the said cooperative society. No plant and machinery was acquired nor any other step was taken for erection of the mill. The term of the said Committee was extended by an order dated 6.7.1998 upto 3.6.2000. It was continued till 2002.

5. The Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Society, Vasamat was thereafter appointed as an Administrator. It is stated that some plants and machinery had been purchased in the year 2000 but they had been lying idle. Theft of articles belonging to the society had also taken place on several occasions. Indisputably, since 1994 no election was held. It is stated that on or about 23.12.2004, a Special General Meeting was convened wherein a request was made to the State to grant financial assistance. A request was also made to appoint an Administrative Board. It was furthermore resolved that no election be held unless the respondent No. 3 - cooperative society becomes functional. Pursuant thereto, a proposal was forwarded to the Director of Handloom, Nagpur which in turn was sent to the Department of Textile of the State of Maharashtra on or about 18.1.2005.

6. The State Government sanctioned a sum of Rs.544 lakhs towards erection of the spinning mill as the Government share capital. 4

7. First Respondent filed a Writ Petition before the High Court, which was marked as Writ Petition No. 1056 of 2006, inter alia, for a direction upon the respondent No.5 herein to conduct election of the Board of Directors of the Society within a fixed time frame. The said writ petition was subsequently amended and a further prayer was added for quashing and setting aside an order dated 29.6.2007 passed by the respondent No. 6 herein appointing a nominated Board of Administrators of the Society till 19.6.2009.

8. Indisputably, the State of Maharashtra during pendency of the said Writ Petition issued a Government Order dated 27.06.2007, which was not produced before the High Court. However, after the judgment was reserved, the State had produced before us a copy of the said order dated 27.6.2007 issued by the Desk Officer, Cooperation Marketing & Textile Department, Government of Maharashtra, which is to the following effect:

17. In view of the fact that we are satisfied that the purported order passed by the State under Section 157 of the Act was not in accordance 15 with law, in our opinion, no case has been made out for interference with the impugned judgment. These appeals are dismissed accordingly with costs. Counsel fee in each case assessed at Rs.50,000/-.

MAY 12, 2009