Association And Others vs The State Of West Bengal And Others
2023 Latest Caselaw 4116 Cal

5th July,
 2023
 (AK)
  28

                              W.P.A 15513 of 2023

               Malda District Central Cooperative Bank Employees
                              Association and others
                                        Vs.
                      The State of West Bengal and others


                        Mr. Abhimanyu Banerjee
                        Ms. Roshni Kalam
                                                  ...for the petitioners.

                        Mr. Sirsanya Bandopadhyay
                        Mr. Arka Kr. Nag
                                                       ...for the State.

                        Mr. Amarendra Chakraborty
                        Mr. Argha Banerjee
                                    ...for the respondent nos.9 & 10.

Learned counsel for the petitioners argues that the

members of the petitioner-Association, who are employees

of the Malda District Central Cooperative Bank Limited,

which is not controlled by the State Government, have

been deployed for election service, despite the established

procedure and Rules providing that only Government

employees and employees of particular local bodies are to

be so engaged.

Learned counsel places reliance on Section 6 of the

West Bengal State Election Commission Act, 1994, as

well as a Handbook for Returning Officers issued by the

West Bengal State Election Commission, to impress upon

the court that the polling personnel for Panchayat

election has to be deployed from among employees under

the State and Central Government as well as under the

local bodies, Secretary and Primary Schools and Colleges

as may be made available by the State Government.

Learned counsel contends that the Malda District

Central Cooperative Bank, which is the concerned Bank

here, is merely a cooperative society and not controlled or

dominated by the State Government either in the sector of

finance or administration.

Learned counsel places reliance on the statement

made in paragraph-22, Clause (a), of the writ petition,

where it has been stated that, as on March 31, 2023, the

respondent no.9-Bank has totally subscribed capital of

Rs.10.37 crore out of which the Government's share is

only Rs.0.56 crore, which is about 5.40% of the total

subscribed capital.

In the very next clause, it has also been stated that

there is no case of financial assistance of the State of

West Bengal to meet any revenue expenditure of the

respondent-Bank and that the Bank runs its function

absolutely in individual manner with autonomy without

any aid and/or aegis of the State of West Bengal or

Governmental aid.

Learned counsel for the petitioners places reliance

on the judgment of the Supreme Court rendered in the

S.S. Rana vs. Registrar, Co-operative Societies and others,

reported at (2006) 11 SCC 634, in support of the

proposition that if a Society is not constituted under an

Act and its functions, like any other Co-operative Society,

are mainly regulated in terms of the provisions of the Act,

except as provided in the bye-laws of the Society, the

State has no say in the functions of the Society.

In such context, it was observed that the State is

not the majority shareholder and the State has the power

only to nominate one director as in the said case.

Thus, it was observed, it cannot be held that the

State exercises any functional control over the affairs of

the Society in the sense that the majority directors are

nominated by the State.

Learned counsel also places reliance on a coordinate

Bench judgment of this court reported at

MANU/WB/0175/2023 (Rameshwar Prasad Keshari vs.

the State of West Bengal and others), which followed the

ratio of S.S. Rana (supra).

It is further contended that the power to appoint

Government staff for the purpose of holding elections is

derived only under Article 324(6) of the Constitution.

In such context, it was held by the Supreme Court

in Election Commission of India vs. State Bank of India,

Patna reported at 1995 (Sup2) SCC 13, that for election

purposes, services of only Government staff can be

requisitioned.

It was further observed that the requisitioning of

services of Bank employees and employees of Life

Insurance Corporation is not permissible.

Drawing analogy from the same, it is argued that

the members of the petitioner-Association could not have

been recruited for doing election duties.

Learned counsel appearing for the State submits

that even in the document annexed at page-44 of the writ

petition, the petitioner no.3, who is the Secretary of the

Association of the Employees of the Co-operative Bank-in-

question, has disclosed that his service is under

Government category, in a State Government

undertaking.

Placing further reliance on a communication handed

over on behalf of the respondent nos.9 and 10 through

counsel, it is argued that the letterhead of the Co-

operative Bank-in-question indicates that the same is a

"West Bengal Government Partnered Bank".

Thus, it is submitted that the contention of the

petitioners is arguable insofar as the employees of the

Association are Government employees or not.

Learned counsel appearing for the Bank, that is,

respondent nos. 9 and 10, contends that he is required to

take further instructions on the issue as to whether the

Co-operative Bank-in-question, that is, the Malda District

Central Co-operative Bank Limited, is a Government

aided Bank and/or run under Government control, either

on the administrative or the financial side.

Accordingly, on the prayer of learned counsel for the

respondent nos.9 and 10, the matter is adjourned till day

after tomorrow, that is, July 7, 2023 in order to enable

learned counsel for the respondent nos.9 and 10 to

furnish a short report/written instruction indicating the

above issue.

The matter shall next be listed fairly at the top of the

list under the same heading on July 7, 2023.

(Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.)