Nurul Hoque Barbhuiya @ Bong and Anr v. The State of Assam and 8 Ors

ORDER

27.03.2023 Heard Shri UK Nair, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Shri KR Patgiri, learned counsel for the petitioners.

¶2Considering the nature of the grievance and as agreed to by the parties, the instant petition is taken up for disposal at the motion stage. It is, however, made clear that the disposal is on a technical issue without entering into the inter-se merits of the dispute.

¶3The petitioners, who are two in numbers, are shareholders of the Rongpur Samabay Samity Ltd., Hailakandi. The last election was held sometime in the year 2007 whereafter due to certain situations, election could not be held for which there were litigations in this Court.

¶4Ultimately, an election was notified culminating holding of elections on 05.02. Page No.# 4/5 2023. The petitioners submit that the results were declared on 07.02.2023 and in accordance with the Assam Cooperative Societies' Election Rules, 2019 (Election Rules), an election petition had been filed. However, that was not taken into consideration.

¶5On the other hand, Shri Talukdar, learned Standing Counsel, Cooperation Department submits that there are two inherent defects in the so called petition. He submits that firstly, the same has been addressed to the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Hailakandi whereas, as per the Election Rules, more specifically Rule 27 thereof, the petition has to be submitted to the election authority which has been defined in Rule 2 (f). By referring to the aforesaid Rule 2 (f), the learned Standing Counsel submits that election authority means the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam or any other officer to whom the powers of election are delegated. He further clarifies that though as per Rule 3, the powers can be delegated to the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies that is only for the purpose of conducting the elections and not for adjudication of dispute for which a special delegation was necessary which has not been done.

¶6Be that as it may, the second objection raised by Shri Talukdar, learned Standing Counsel with regard to the period of limitation. He submits that apparently the petition has been filed on 09.02.2023 whereas the election was held on 05.02.2023. Both the aforesaid two objections have, however, been responded to by Shri Nair, learned Senior Counsel by contending that the fact of submitting the petition before the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Hailakandi can be rectified by permitting the petitioners to submit such a representation raising the dispute before the Registrar of Cooperative Societies as per law. So far as the objection regarding limitation is concerned, the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners clarifies that the prescribed period of 3 days has to be done from the date of declaration of the result which, in Page No.# 5/5 this case, was 07.02.2023.

¶7Both responses have been fairly conceded by Shri Talukdar, learned Standing Counsel.

¶8Under the facts and circumstances, this Court directs that the petition dated

09.02.2023 submitted before the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Hailakandi may be resubmitted to the appropriate authority which is the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam within a period of 1 week from today which would be deemed to be in time as the initial petition, though addressed to the wrong authority, was within time. On such submission, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam shall consider the same and after giving proper opportunity to the affected parties pass a speaking order. In the hearing, the affected parties would also be entitled to raise all the legal issues which would be considered in accordance with law.

¶9The entire exercise, as indicated above, may be completed expeditiously within an outer limit of 3 months from the date of receipt of the same.

¶10The writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010043192023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1224/2023o NURULoHOQUEoBARBHUIYAo@oBONGoANDoANRo SONoOFoLATEoMAHMUDoALIoBARBHUIYA,o R/O-oVILL.oDINANATHPURoPART-I,o P.O.-oDINANATHPUR,oDIST.-oHAILAKANDI,o ASSAM. 2:oBILALoUDDIN oSONoOFoLATEoKHALILoUDDIN o R/O-oVILL.oDINANATHPURoPART-I o P.O.-oDINANATHPUR oDIST.-oHAILAKANDI o ASSAMo VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo8oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.o OFoASSAM,o COOPERATIONoDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-06. 2:THEoREGISTRARoOFoCOOPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oASSAM oKHANAPARA oGUWAHATI-o781022. 3:THEoZONALoJOINToREGISTRARoOFoCOOPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oSILCHARoZONE oSILCHAR oCACHAR oPIN-o788001. PageoNo.#o2/5 4:THEoASSTT.oREGISTRARoOFoCOOPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oHAILAKANDI oASSAM oP.O.-oHAILAKANDI oPIN-o788162. 5:RONGPURoSAMABAIoSAMITYoLTD. oREPRESENTEDoBYoITSoSECRETARY o P.O.-oSAHABAD oDIST.-oHAILAKANDI o ASSAM oPIN-o788163. 6:SIRAJULoHOQUEoLASKAR oMEMBERoOFoTHEoBOARDoOFoDIRECTORSoOFoRONGPURoSAMABAYo SAMITYoLTD. oRONGPUR o P.O.-oSAHABAD oDIST.-oHAILAKANDI o ASSAM oPIN-o788163. 7:DILUoDAS oMEMBERoOFoTHEoBOARDoOFoDIRECTORSoOFoRONGPURoSAMABAYo SAMITYoLTD. oRONGPUR o P.O.-oSAHABAD oDIST.-oHAILAKANDI o ASSAM oPIN-o788163. 8:ALTAFoHUSSAINoLASKAR oMEMBERoOFoTHEoBOARDoOFoDIRECTORSoOFoRONGPURoSAMABAYo SAMITYoLTD. oRONGPUR o P.O.-oSAHABAD oDIST.-oHAILAKANDI o ASSAM oPIN-o788163. Page No.# 3/5 9:AJIJUR RAHMAN CHOUDHURY MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF RONGPUR SAMABAY SAMITY LTD. RONGPUR P.O.- SAHABAD DIST.- HAILAKANDI ASSAM PIN- 788163 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. K R PATGIRI Advocate for the Respondent : SC, CO OP BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR MEDHI