W.P. No. 17755 of 2011. Case: Bashirhat Sardarati Tantubay Samabay Samity Limited Vs State of West Bengal. High Court of Calcutta (India)
| Case Number | W.P. No. 17755 of 2011 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Pabitra Charan Bhattacharya, Adv. And For Respondents: Kallol Bose, Subrata Santra, Sudhindra Nath De, Arnab Ray and Ashok Banerjee, Asim Kumar Ganguly, Advs. |
| Judges | Biswanath Somadder, J. |
| Issue | Constitution of India - Article 12; West Bengal Co-operative Societies, Act, 1983 - Section 31(c) |
| Citation | 2012 (2) CHN 746 |
| Judgement Date | January 31, 2012 |
| Court | High Court of Calcutta (India) |
Judgment:
Biswanath Somadder, J.
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Affidavit-of-service filed in Court today be kept on record. The petitioner No. 1 is a cooperative society of which the petitioner No. 2 is its Secretary. In the instant writ petition serious allegations have been made with regard to bogus delegates whose names appear in the voters' list for the purpose of electing a Board of Directors for the apex cooperative society, i.e., West Bengal State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd. (for short, referred as Tantuja).
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It appears that the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, West Bengal, by an order dated 21st April, 2011, appointed a Special officer in terms of section 31(c) of the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 1983, following an order passed by this Court dated 17th March, 2011, in another writ petition, being WP 4608 (W) of 2011.
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It has been specifically submitted by the learned advocate, representing the petitioners that the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 3983, was repealed and replaced by the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 2006, with effect from 18th January, 2011. As such, there was no question of a Special officer being appointed under an Act which was no longer in force.
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On behalf of the State, the learned Government Pleader enters appearance and submits that the allegations made in the writ petition are quite serious and are required to be looked into thoroughly. So far as steps taken by the Special officer to hold election for constituting a Board of Directors for Tantuja is concerned, he submits that this Court may pass necessary orders as it may deem fit and proper.
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The learned advocate representing Tantuja, however, submits that a writ does not lie against West Bengal State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd. In this context, he relics on a Division Bench judgment of this Court rendered in Bikash Talukdar vs. State of West Bengal & Ors. reported in 2004(2) CLT 4.
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Since a preliminary point of maintainability has been raised by Tantuja relying on the aforesaid Division Bench judgment of this Court, it is necessary to determine this question first, before going into other issues as sought to be raised in the instant matter.
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In Bikash Talukdar's case (supra), the question of maintainability of writ against West Bengal State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd. came up for consideration only in the backdrop of whether it was a 'State' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India...
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