Ohab Choudhury and 7 Ors v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER Date : 07-08-2023 Heard Mr. A.W. Aman, learned counsel for the writ petitioner. Also heard Ms. M.D. Bora, learned standing counsel, Cooperation Department, Assam appearing for the respondent Nos. 1 to 5. None has appeared for the respondent Nos. 6 and 7. The instant writ petition has been filed by the newly elected members of the Goroimari Gaon Panchayat S.S. Ltd. who were elected in the AGM held on 28-12-2022, Page No.# 4/5 being aggrieved by the order dated 12-01-2023 passed by the Zonal Joint Registrar of the Cooperative Societies, i.e. the respondent No. 4 dissolving the newly elected Board of Directors of the Society and appointing a "one man committee" to run the affairs of the Society. The impugned order was apparently issued by invoking jurisdiction under Section 39 of the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007 for violation of Section 32 of the Act on account of the fact that the one man ad-hoc committee entrusted with the responsibility of holding of the AGM had left the venue of the meeting before completing eight of the eleven agenda items of the meeting. Mr. Aman submits that although the one man ad-hoc committee had left the venue, yet, he was present up to agenda item No. 3, i.e. holding of election of the Board of Directors. Therefore, his absence in the remaining items would not have any vitiating effect on the election of the Board of Directors. The learned counsel for the petitioners' submits that the newly elected Board of Directors had submitted representations dated 02-01-2023 and 10-01-2023 before the respondent No. 2, i.e. Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam. However, no action has been taken on their representation till today. Hence, this writ petition. Ms. Bora, learned standing counsel, Cooperation Department, Assam submits that the impugned order dated 12-01-2023 is appealble under Section 111 of the Act of 2007. Hence, this matter be disposed of with a direction upon the respondent No. 2 to consider the representations submitted by the petitioners by treating them as appeal preferred under Section 111 of the Act of 2007. Mr. Aman, learned counsel for the writ petitioners has also agreed to such a Page No.# 5/5 recourse but he prays for a direction to complete the process in a time bound manner. Taking note of the submissions made at the bar and having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, this writ petition is thus disposed of by providing that the representations dated 02-01-2023 and 10-01-2023 submitted by the writ petitioners be treated as appeal preferred under Section 111 of the Act of 2007 and the respondent No. 3 may dispose of the same with a reasoned order after hearing the interested parties. The aforesaid exercise be carried out and completed as expeditiously as possible, but not later than 06 weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. Writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE GS Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010045662023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1201/2023o OHABoCHOUDHURYoANDo7oORSo S/O-oFOZOLoHOQUEoCHOUDHURY,oPERMANENToR/O-oJORSHIMULI,oP.O.o TAPARPATHER,oP.S.oCHAYGAON,oDIST.-oKAMRUP,oASSAM,oPIN-o781137 2:oSHOFIQULoISLAM oS/O-oCHANDoMIA oPERMANENToR/O-oVILLoANDoPO-oTUKRAPARA oPSoCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM oPIN-o781137 3:oMIACHANoALI oS/O-oLT.oMESERoALI oPERMANENToR/O-oVILLoANDoPO-oTUKRAPARA oPSoCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM oPIN-o781137 4:oMIRoAKHTERoAHMED oS/O-oABUoTALEBoAHMED oPERMANENToR/O-oVILLoANDoPO-oTUKRAPARA oPSoCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM oPIN-o781137 5:oJAHIDULoALOMoAHMED oS/O-oJAKIRoUDDINoAHMED oPERMANENToR/O-oVILLoGHORAMARAoANDoPO-oTUKRAPARA oPSoCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM PageoNo.#o2/5 oPIN-o781137 6:oMARIAMoKHANAM oD/O-oDHANUoMIA oW/O-oABDULoSALAMoAHMEDoPERMANENToR/O-oVILLoBHAURABHITHA oPO-oBHAURABHITHA oPSoCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM oPIN-o781137 7:oALIoAKBAR oS/O-oLT.oAINUDDIN oPERMANENToR/O-oVILL-oBHAURABHITHAoANDoP.O.oTUKRAPARA oP.S.oCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM oPIN-o781137 8:oSHAHIDULoISLAM oS/O-oABDULoBAREQ oPERMANENToR/O-oVILLoANDoPO-oTUKARAPARA oPSoCHAYGAON oDIST.-oKAMRUP oASSAM oPIN-o78113o VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoCHIEFoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oCOOPERATION DEPTT.,oDISPUR,oGHY-6,oKAMRUPo(M),oASSAM 2:THEoSECRETARYoTOoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oDEPTT.oOFoCOOPERATION oDISPUR oGHY-6 oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM 3:THEoREGISTRARoCO-OPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oASSAMoKHANAPARA oGUWAHATIo-o781022 4:THEoZONALoJOINToREGISTRARoOFoCO-OPERATIVEoSOCIETIES oGUWAHATIoZONE oBHANGAGARH oGUWAHATI-05 Page No.# 3/5 KAMRUP (M) ASSAM 5:THE JUNIOR INSPECTOR/ AUDITOR OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN THE OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT REGISTRAR CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES BHANGAGARH GHY-05 6:THE PRESIDENT GOROIMARI GAON PANCHAYAT SAMABAY SAMITI LTD. GOROIMARI PS- CHAYGAON DIST.- KAMRUP (R) ASSAM PIN- 781137 7:THE SECRETARY GOROIMARI GAON PANCHAYAT SAMABAY SAMITI LTD. CHAYGAON DIST.- KAMRUP (R) ASSAM PIN- 78113 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR A W AMAN Advocate for the Respondent : SC, CO OP BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUMAN SHYAM