Sambhu Baishnab vs The State Of Assam And 22 Ors
2024 Latest Caselaw 8560 Gua

Gauhati High Court

Sambhu Baishnab vs The State Of Assam And 22 Ors on 22 November, 2024

Author: K.R. Surana

Bench: Kalyan Rai Surana, Manish Choudhury

                                                              Page No.# 1/11

GAHC010191032024




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                       THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
  (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

                           Case No. : WA/343/2024

         SAMBHU BAISHNAB
         SON OF LATE DHARANI KANTA BAISHNAB, RESIDENT OF VILL.
         BISHNUPUR, NAYADASGRAM P.O. ANILGARH, P.S. RAMKRISH NAGAR,
         DISTRICT KARIMGANJ, ASSAM, PIN-788156.



         VERSUS

         THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 22 ORS
         REPRESENTED BY THE ADDITIONAL CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE GOVT.
         OF ASSAM, CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT,DISPUR, GUWAHATI-781006.

         2:THE REGISTRAR

          CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES
          ASSAM
          KHANAPARA
          GUWAHATI-781022.

         3:THE ASSISTANT REGISTRAR

          CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES

         RAMKRISHNA NAGAR

         KARIMGANJ
         ASSAM

         PIN-788166.

         4:THE RETURNING OFFICER

          GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LTD.
                                       Page No.# 2/11

P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.

5:THE PRESIDENT

 GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

6:THE SECRETARY

 GANDHIGRAM CO - OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT - KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN- 788166.

7:SMTI. SUKLA SINHA

W/O. SRI. KISHOR KUMAR SINHA

VILL. GORARBOND

P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.

8:SOURAV BAISHNAB

S/O. LATE HARLAL BAISHNAB

VILL. BISHNUPUR

P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.
                                     Page No.# 3/11


9:SWAPNAJIT PAUL

S/O. SRI. SUDHINDRA PAUL

VILL. AND P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.

10:BINAYAK CHAKRABORTY

S/O. SRI.LAXMI MANGAL CHAKRABORTY

VILL. GANDHINAGAR
P.O. NETAJINAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.

11:JAYANTA DAS

S/O. LATE JYOTISH CH DAS

VILL. KALIBARI BAZAR
P.O. NETAJINAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.

12:ASHIM KUMAR ROY

S/O. SRI. ANANDA RAM ROY

VILL MANIKNAGAR
P.O. NETAJINAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM
PIN-788166.

13:SAURAV DAS

S/O. LATE SAMIRAN DAS
                                         Page No.# 4/11

KALINAGAR GRAM PANCHYAT

RAMKRISHNA NAGAR CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

14:RAJESH DAS

S/O. LATE RAJENDRA DAS

GAMARIA GRAM PANCHYAT

VILLAGE-NABIN GRAM

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

15:SHILONG KHASIA

C/O. GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

16:ANJALI MISHRA

C/O- GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

17:RATISH CH DEB

S/O. LATE TARANATH DAS

VILLAGE-NETAJINAGAR
                                          Page No.# 5/11

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

18:FAZLUL HOQUE

S/O. LATE ABDUL LATIPH

VILLAGE-KHALAGRAM

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

19:PRADIP DAS

C/O. GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

20:DOSHOROTH SUKHLABAIDYA

 C/O. GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR
 DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

21:FARUKH AHMED

C/O. GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
ASSAM

PIN-788166.

22:SURMANI SARKAR

C/O. GANDHIGRAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY.
                                                                      Page No.# 6/11

             P.O. NETAJI NAGAR

             DISTRICT-KARIMGANJ
             ASSAM

            PIN-788166.

            23:MD. AKLAS UDDIN
             SON OF ARMAN ALI

            VILL. DARGARBOND
             VTC DALOO PART-II
            P.O. MUKTARANPUR

            DISTRICT KARIMGANJ
            ASSAM

            PIN-788150

Advocate for the Petitioner   : MR. A B T HAQUE,

Advocate for the Respondent : SC, CO OP, FOR CAVEATOR,MR. R A MAZUMDER,MR. D
HUSSAIN




                                    BEFORE
                   HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA
                   HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY

                                          ORDER

Date : 22.11.2024 (K.R. Surana, J)

Heard Mr. I. Choudhury, learned senior counsel, assisted by Mr. A.B.T. Haque, learned counsel for the petitioner.

2. Mr. N.Z. Azad, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. G. Bordoloi, learned standing counsel for the respondent nos. 1 to 4 and Mr. D. Hussain, learned counsel for the respondent no.13/ caveator prays for adjournment.

3. The learned senior counsel for the appellant has submitted that the Page No.# 7/11

election of the Executive Committee of Gandhigram Samabai Samitee Ltd. was

held on 10th May, 2023 in the AGM call for the purpose. It is projected that there were several anomalies in the manner in which the elections were conducted, including preparation of the voters' list and therefore, the respondent no.13, who was the writ petitioner had approached this Court by filing WP(C) 3499/2023. However, the said writ petition was dismissed by a common judgment and order dated 12.08.2024, passed in WP(C) 2817/2023 (Haripada Das Vs. The State of Assam & 4 Ors.) and WP(C) 3499/2023 (Sri Sambhu Baishnab vs. The State of Assam & Ors.).

4. The learned senior counsel for the appellant has submitted that under clause (a) of Rule 27 of the Assam Co-operative Society (Election) Rules, 2019, it is provided that any dispute relating to election of a Co-operative Society may be submitted within 3 days from the date of declaration of the results, before the Election Authority. It is submitted that in this case, the elections were held in the AGM held on 10.05.2023, but intervening dates of 13.05.2023 was on second Saturday and 14.05.2023 was on Sunday and therefore, the representation against the election was submitted before the Register of Co- operative Societies on 15.05.2019. Taking recourse to the provisions of Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, it is submitted that the submission of representation on 15.05.2019 could not have been held to be beyond the time prescribed under Rule 27(a) of the Assam Co-operative Society (Election) Rules, 2019.

5. As stated hereinbefore, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of learned standing counsel for the respondent nos. 1 to 4 and the learned counsel for the respondent no.13/ caveator has prayed for adjournment.

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6. Accordingly, let a notice returnable in 4(four) weeks be issued.

7. The instructing counsel for the appellant shall serve requisite extra copies of the memo of writ appeal to the learned standing counsel for the respondent nos. 1 to 4 within two working days.

8. The appellant shall take steps within three working days for the service of notice on the respondent no. 5 to 12 and 14 to 23.

9. Liberty is granted to the learned counsel for the petitioner to collect the postal receipt number from the Registry and track service through the postal website and the track report may be filed before the Registry prior to the next date fixed.

10. Heard both sides on the prayer for interim relief.

11. On the prayer for interim relief, the learned standing counsel for the respondent nos. 1 to 4 and the learned counsel for the respondent no.13/ caveator have prayed for adjournment.

12. The issue as to whether the representation against the election, submitted on 15.05.2023 was beyond three days is a question of law. Moreover, it is not in dispute that the learned Single Judge had dismissed the writ petition only on the sole ground that the representation submitted on 15.05.2023 was beyond prescribed three days as the elections were held on 10.05.2023.

13. In this regard Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 reads as follows:

"9. Commencement and termination of time:-

(1) In any 1[Central Act] or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of excluding the first in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word "from", and, for the purpose of including the last in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word "to".

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(2) This section applies also to all 2[Central Acts] made after the third day of January, 1868, and to all Regulations made on or after the fourteenth day of January, 1887."

14. Therefore, by applying the said provision of law, prima facie the first in the series of days from 10.05.2023 is required to be excluded. The provisions of Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 is quoted below:

"10. Computation of time:- (1) Where, by any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, any act or proceeding is directed or allowed to be done or taken in any Court or office on a certain day or within a prescribed period, then, if the Court or office is closed on that day or the last day of the prescribed period, the act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards on which the Court or office is open:

Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to any act or proceeding to which the Indian Limitation Act, 1877 (15 of 1877)2, applies.

(2) This section applies also to all Central Acts and Regulations made on or after the fourteenth day of January, 1887."

15. Somewhat para materia provisions are available in of Section 9 and 10 of the Assam General Clause Act, 1915, which are quoted below:

"S.9 Commencement and termination of time:- in any Act it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of excluding the first in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word 'from', and, for the purpose of including the last in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word 'to'.

S.10 Computation of time:- where, by any Act, any act or proceeding is directed or allowed to be done or taken in any Court or on a certain day or within a prescribed period, then, if the Court or office is closed on that day or the last day of the prescribed period, the act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards on which the Court or office is open:

Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to any act or proceeding to which the Indian Limitation Act, 1908, applies."

16. From the above, prima facie it is observed that under Sub-Section (1) of Section 10, if the office is closed on the last day of the prescribed period, the act of proceedings is required to be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done on the next day afterwards, on which the office is open. The learned Page No.# 10/11

counsel for the respondent no.13/caveator has not been able to demonstrate

that on 2nd Saturday and Sunday being 13th May, 2023 and 14th May, 2023, were declared as working days for the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam. Therefore, we find that the appellant has been able to make out a prima

facie case that the presentation submitted on 15 th May, 2019, could be within the scope of Section 9 and 10 of the General Clause Act, 1897 as well as of Section 9 and 10 of the Assam General Clause Act, 1915.

17. The said issue, as raised by the learned senior counsel for the appellant, requires examination.

18. Nonetheless, as appellant has been able to make out a prima facie case for hearing, the Court is the considered opinion that the balance of convenience would be in favour of the appellant and against the respondents for granting ad- interim relief as prayed for. Moreover, in the event the interim relief as prayed for is not granted, there is likelihood that the prejudice that is suffered by the appellant would be more comparatively to the prejudice that would be suffered by the respondents.

19. Under such circumstances, the Court is inclined to stay the operation of the judgment and order dated 12.08.2024, passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(C) 3499/2023. Resultantly, the functioning of the Board of Directors of Gandhigram Samabai Samitee Ltd., Karimganj pursuant to election held on 10.05.2023, is also stayed.

20. The competent Authority, being the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam shall do the needful for functioning of the said Cooperative Society in accordance with the provisions of the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007.

21. List after 4(four) weeks on a date to be fixed by the Registry.

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JUDGE JUDGE

Comparing Assistant