The Fakiragram Samabai Samiti Ltd. and 2 Ors v. The State of Assam and 18 Ors

ORDER Date : 09-01-2023 Heard Mr. M.U. Mahmud, learned counsel for the petitioners as well as Mr. S.K. Talukdar, learned standing counsel for the Cooperation Department for the respondent nos.1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and Ms. R.B. Bora, learned standing counsel for the BTC.

¶2By this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the case projected by the petitioners is that they were elected as Directors of Fakiragram Samabay Samiti Ltd. for the year 2018-2023 but they were not provided with the required 'elected' certificate by the respondent no.4 i.e. the Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Kokrajhar allegedly due to the intervention made by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam (respondent no.3). Moreover, by the impugned order dated 17.04.2018 (Annexure-7), the Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Kokrajhar had issued a direction Page No.# 7/8 upon the Returning Officer to take necessary action and to complete the election process of the Society as per nomination papers declared valid by him on 12.04.2018.

¶3The learned standing counsel for the Cooperation Department has submitted that the present petition is vitiated by delay and latches as the impugned order of 17.04.2018 has been assailed belatedly. It is submitted that the challenge of such nature ought not to be entertained because the petitioners are seeking their right as elected members for the next 5 years which is not permissible under the provision of Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007, as the tenure of the elected body would be from the year 2018-2023. Therefore, it is submitted that ordinarily the tenure of the petitioners, if declared elected would be valid till 31.03.2023.

¶4Be that as it may, the petitioners claim that they are elected for the term 2018-2023. We have taken the note of the submission made by the learned standing counsel for the Cooperation Department that the tenure of the petitioners would have expired on 31.03.2023. Therefore, the Court is of the considered opinion that instead of keeping the matter pending, ends of justice would be served to direct the petitioners to submit a representation before the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (respondent no.3) for issuance of 'elected' certificate as Director of Fakiragram Samabay Samiti Ltd. for the term 2018-2023.

¶5Accordingly, the writ petition is closed with liberty to the petitioner to submit a representation before the Registrar of Cooperative Page No.# 8/8 Societies, Assam (respondent no.3) within a period of 10(ten) days from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order and upon receipt of such representation the respondent no.3 shall consider the claim of the petitioners of being elected Directors of Fakiragram Samabay Samiti for period of 2018 to

31.03.2023 and take an appropriate decision thereon.

¶6It is further provided that if the petitioners are found entitled to be declared as elected Board members of the said Society, it would be open to the respondent no.3 to allow the petitioners to take charge as Directors of Fakiragram Samabay Samity Ltd. till the end of their normal tenure ending on

31.03.2023, and not beyond.

¶7As this writ petition has been disposed of at the motion stage without issuance of notice on the respondents, liberty is given to anyone aggrieved to apply before this Court for modification of this order.

¶8With the above observations, the writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/8 GAHC010001592023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/76/2023o THEoFAKIRAGRAMoSAMABAIoSAMITIoLTD.oANDo2oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoDIPAKoMAJUMDAR,o CHAIRMANoOFoTHEoSOCIETY,o P.O-oFAKIRAGRAM,o P.S.-oFAKIRAGRAM,o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR,oBTC,oASSAM. 2:oDIPAKoMAJUMDAR oSONoOFoLATEoMADHUoSUDHANoMAJUMDAR o VILLAGE-oPOCHAGAON o UNDERoFAKIRAGRAMoPOLICEoSTATION o DIST-oKOKRAJHAR o 3:oJALALoUDDINoAHMED oSONoOFoLATEoSOBAHANoALIoSHEIKH o VILLAGE-oPAKHRIRTOAL o UNDERoFAKIRAGRAMoPOLICEoSTATION o DIST-oKOKRAJHAR o PIN-o783345o VERSUSo PageoNo.#o2/8 THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo18oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.o OFoASSAM,o CO-OPERATIONoDEPARTMENT,o GOVT.oOFoASSAM,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoBODOLANDoTERRITORIALoCOUNCIL oREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oBTC o KOKRAJHAR oASSAM. 3:THEoREGISTRARoOFoCO-OPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oKHANAPARA oGUWAHATI-o22. 4:THEoADDITIONALoREGISTRAR oCO-OPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oKOKRAJHARoDISTRICT oASSAM. 5:THEoASSISTANToREGISTRARoOFoCO-OPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oKOKRAJHARoDISTRICT oASSAM. 6:THEoRETURNINGoOFFICER oDEPUTEDoFORoELECTIONoINoTHEoYEARo2018oFORoFAKIRAGRAMoS.S.oLTD. o KOKRAJHAR oASSAM. 7:THEoSECRETARY oFAKIRAGRAMoS.S.oLTD. oKOKRAJHAR oASSAM. 8:CHINIoRAMoDAS oSONoOFoLATEoLALMOHANoDAS o PageoNo.#o3/8 VILL-oDHPERTAL o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 9:ALAUDDINoSHEIKH oSONoOFoMOFAJULoHUSSAIN o VILLAGE-oKASHIMARI o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 10:ZAKIRoHUSSAIN oSONoOFoLT.oSABIDoALI o VILL.-oPAKHIRTAL o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 11:SANTAoMANDAL oSONoOFoSURESHoMANDAL o VILLAGE-oRABHAPARA o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o PageoNo.#o4/8 12:RITUoSEAL oSONoOFoGAURoSEAL o VILLAGE-oPACHAGARH o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 13:CHANDRIKAoPRASHADoNATH oSONoOFoLT.oSHASHIoMOHANoNATH o VILL-oDINGAON o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 14:AJAYoKR.oNAG oSONoOFoKESHARIoMOHANoNAG o VILL.oANDoP.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 15:ABDULoALIM oSONoOFoLT.oABDULoHAMID o VILL-oKALJHAR o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR PageoNo.#o5/8 o 16:MATIYARoRAHMAN oSONoOFoMEHERoALI o VILL-oPAKHIRTAL o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 17:ATULoCHANDRAoBARMAN oSONoOFoBHEDANGoBARMAN o VILL-oBHUBANoNAGAR o P.O.-oPRATAPoKHATA o P.S.o-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o PIN-o783337. 18:ANOWARoHUSSAIN oSONoOFoLT.oJOYNULLAHoSK o VILL-oKOKAITARY o P.O.-oFAKIRAGRAM o P.S.-oFAKIRAGRAM o DIST.-oKOKRAJHAR o 19:RAHIMUDDINoSK. oSONoOFoHABEJUDDINoSK. Page No.# 6/8 VILL- KHARIDAR SANDLA P.O.- FAKIRAGRAM P.S.- FAKIRAGRAM DIST.- KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN- 783345 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M U MAHMUD Advocate for the Respondent : SC, CO OP BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA