Ashish Rameshrao Burghate vs The State Of Maharashtra, Thr. ...
2023 Latest Caselaw 9638 Bom

2023:BHC-NAG:13666-DB
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                          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                    NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR

                                    WRIT PETITION NO. 5137/2023


                    Ashish Rameshrao Burghate,
                    Aged about 54 Yrs., Occu. Service,
                    R/o. Flat No.201, Krishna Ruby Apartment Hill
                    View, Co-operative Housing Society, Dabha,
                    Nagpur - 440023.                              ----PETITIONER

                           --VERSUS--
               1.   The State of Maharashtra,
                    Through its Secretary,
                    Cooperative Marketing & Textile Department,
                    Mantralaya, Mumbai - 400032.

               2.   The State Co-operative Election Authority,
                    Maharashtra State, Pune,
                    through its Secretary, Ground Floor, Old
                    Central Building, B. J. Road, Pune - 411001.

               3.   The District Cooperative Election Officer and
                    Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies,
                    Nagpur, District Nagpur.

               4.   The Returning Officer,
                    Defence Project Sevkanchi Sahakari Pat
                    Sanstha Maryadit, Ambajhari, Nagpur,
                    District Nagpur.

               5.   The President,
                    Defence Project Sevkanchi Sahakari Pat
                    Sanstha Maryadit, Ambajhari, Nagpur,
                    District Nagpur. Registration No.218.            ----RESPONDENTS

              Mr. Subhash Ingale, Advocate for Petitioner.
              Ms. N. P. Mehta, Assistant Government Pleader for Respondent Nos.1 to 3.
              Mr. S. S. Ghate, Advocate for Respondent Nos.4 & 5.

                     CORAM : A.S.CHANDURKAR AND MRS.VRUSHALI V. JOSHI, JJ.

                     DATED     : SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
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ORAL JUDGMENT (PER : A.S.CHANDURKAR, J.)

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally with

consent of the learned Counsel for the parties.

2. The petitioners are members of the respondent No.5 -

Cooperative Society which comprises of 2884 salaried employees of

Ordnance Factory Ambajhari. The petitioner is aggrieved by the

communication dated 28.06.2023 as a result of which, the election

programme that was under way was required to be discontinued for the

reason that the rainy season had commenced.

3. After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties, it is seen

that the order dated 28.06.2023 impugned in this writ petition was also

the subject matter of challenge in Writ Petition No.4284/2023 (Shri

Ramesh s/o. Ganpatrao Singanjude Vs. The Stat of Maharashtra and Ors.)

decided on 21.07.2023. It was held therein that the blanket order stalling

the election process irrespective of the nature of the society or the class of

its voters was bad in law.

4. In paragraph 9 of the said judgment, it has been observed as

under :

"9. The order dated 28.06.2023 was also challenged before the Aurangabad Bench in Balaji S/o. Kerba More (supra) 3/4 5.wp.5137.23-J.odt

wherein the Division Bench held that the blanket order stalling the election process irrespective of the nature of the society, its location, the category or class of voters or the report of the meteorological department could not have been passed. The exercise of such power was held to be arbitrary and capricious. The order with regard to the Societies before the Court came to be set aside. We are inclined to follow the aforesaid decision with regard to the respondent No.5 - Society herein."

5. In the present case the election programme commenced with

the filing of nomination forms on 29.05.2023. When the impugned order

dated 28.06.2023 was passed, only the stage of polling was required to be

undertaken. We find that the challenge was raised is covered by the

decision in Ramesh s/o. Ganpatrao Singanjude (supra)

6. It is submitted by the learned Counsel for the respondent

No.2 that the elections stand postponed till 30.09.2023 in terms of the

order dated 28.06.2023 that has been issued by the respondent No.1. It

is thus submitted that within further period of about three weeks the

Election Programme would in any event continue. Since it has been found

that the issuance of the order dated 28.06.2023 is an arbitrary exercise of

power, we are not inclined to accept the submission that the Society

should be asked to wait till the end of 30.09.2023 to complete the process

of election.

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7. Hence, for the reasons assigned in the aforesaid judgment, the

following order is passed :-

I] The order dated 28.06.2023 issued by the respondent

No.1 would not apply to the respondent No.5 - Society for

aforesaid reasons.

II] The elections be continued in accordance with the

Election Programme that came to be published and it be

continued from the stage where the elections had been stayed

by assigning fresh dates for the remaining stages of the

elections.

8. Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms with no order as

to costs.

9. Authenticated copy of this order be supplied to the learned

Counsel for the respective parties to act upon.

(MRS.VRUSHALI V. JOSHI, J.) (A.S.CHANDURKAR, J.)

RGurnule

Signed by: Mrs. R.M. MANDADE Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 13/09/2023 19:00:08