Tajinder Kumar vs J&K Special Tribunal & Anr
2023 Latest Caselaw 189 j&K

                                                                     Sr. No.
        HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
                        AT JAMMU
                                              OWP No. 1852/2014
                                              IA No. 2392/2014

                                              Reserved on: 29.07.2022.
                                              Pronounced on: 08.02.2023.

Tajinder Kumar                                        .....Appellant(s)/Petitioner(s)


                         Through: Ms. Mayuri Sumbria, Advocate vice
                                  Mr. Ajay Vaid, Advocate.

                    Vs


J&K Special Tribunal & Anr.                                     ..... Respondent(s)

                         Through: None.


Coram: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAHUL BHARTI, JUDGE

                                JUDGMENT

01. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.

02. By this petition, an order dated 24.06.2014 passed by the J&K Special

Tribunal, Jammu on file no. STJ/68/10 is being challenged to be quashed by a

writ of certiorari. Order dated 24.06.2014 has been passed by the J&K Special

Tribunal, Jammu exercising its quasi judicial statutory jurisdiction under the

provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Cooperative Societies Act, 1989.

03. The matter had landed before the J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu when

the Registrar Cooperative Societies, Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu came to pass

an order dated 22.05.2010 in terms whereof the petitioner was ordered to be

liable to pay back an amount of rupees 2,27,749.29/- to the Hiranagar Block

Cooperative Marketing Society Limited-the respondent no. 2 herein. The

liability so imposed upon the petitioner was on account of the alleged deficiency

of sale proceeds of the time when the petitioner was serving as salesman of the

respondent no. 2.

04. The Registrar Cooperative Societies, Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu

had passed said order dated 22.05.2010 in exercise of appellate jurisdiction

while hearing an appeal filed by the respondent no. 2 against an order dated

03.05.2008 passed by the Additional Registrar Cooperative Societies, Jammu in

an arbitration proceedings under the J&K Cooperative Societies Act, which

were got initiated by the respondent no. 2 against the petitioner for recovery of

the amount of rupees 2,27,749.80/-.

05. In the arbitration case before the Additional Registrar Cooperative

Societies Jammu, the respondent no. 2 had set up a case against the petitioner

that in the course of his working as salesman in the Super Bazar Dayala Chak

Branch of the respondent no. 2, the petitioner had caused deficiency in the sale

proceeds to the extent of rupees 2,27,749.80/-. The respondent no. 2 had called

upon the petitioner in the year 1995 to make up the deficiency of the said

amount.

06. The arbitration before the Additional Registrar Cooperative Societies

came to be initiated by the respondent no. 2 on 18.01.2005 i.e. after 10 years

reckoning from 1995 when the respondent no. 2 had first called upon the

petitioner to make good the deficiency of the amount of rupees 2,27,749.29/-.

The Additional Registrar Cooperative Societies Jammu, vide his order dated

03.05.2008, came to reject the arbitration case of the respondent no. 2 on the

ground of delay and laches as being time barred, without further touching the

merits of the claim.

07. In the appeal against the order dated 03.05.2008, the Registrar

Cooperative Societies Jammu held that the case of the respondent no. 2 against

the petitioner in arbitration was not hit by limitation and instead of remanding

the matter back for adjudication on merits, the Registrar Cooperative Societies,

in his appellate jurisdiction, came to pass a judgment against the petitioner

holding him liable for recovery of rupees 2,27,749.29/-.

08. In the revision petition before the J&K Special Tribunal, the order

dated 22.05.2010 of the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu came to

be further improved with a direction added that the recovery of amount against

the petitioner shall be with the interest @12% from the date of outstanding up to

its complete recovery.

09. It is in this factual backdrop that the present writ petition is getting its

adjudication. A bare perusal of the order dated 22.05.2010 passed by the

Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu read with order dated 24.06.2014

passed by the J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu would ex-facie show that both are

perverse in all respects as without any factual background and basis the two

orders have come to fasten liability upon the petitioner when the original

jurisdiction to determine and hold as to whether the petitioner was liable for any

such deflection of the funds of the respondent no. 2 was that of the Additional

Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu and at best in case if the order

dated 03.05.2008 passed by the Additional Registrar Cooperative Societies,

Jammu in arbitration proceedings holding the claim of the respondent no. 2 as

being time barred was held to be not good in the eyes of law by the Registrar

Cooperative Societies in exercise of his appellate jurisdiction then the only

course of option available with the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu

was to have the matter remanded to the Additional Registrar Cooperative

Societies, Jammu for adjudicating the claim of the respondent no. 2 against the

petitioner on merits but instead the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu

on his own jumped to a conclusion of holding the petitioner as liable as if the

claim of the respondent no. 2 against the petitioner was a truth told.

10. Assuming for the sake of arguments that the petitioner was in fact

accountable for the fund handlings of the respondent no. 2, then the Registrar

Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu ought to have first carried out the inquiry as

to why from 1995 onwards in the audit of the respondent no. 2 the shortage of

funds/sale proceeds at the hand of the petitioner were left to be undetected and

unreported and acted upon by the management of the respondent no. 2 or for

that matter by the inspection establishment under the Jammu and Kashmir

Cooperative Societies Act which is meant to monitor the routine working and

administration of the cooperative societies.

11. Thus, just on ipse dixit, the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K,

Jammu had come to hold the petitioner guilty and the perverse judgment of the

Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu came to be confirmed by the J&K

Special Tribunal, Jammu by adding further perversity in the form of direction

for the interest liability for the recovery of the amount from the date of

outstanding due without giving any finding as to from which date the said,

outstanding was reckoned to have stood against the petitioner.

12. Thus, it is the perversity which fails the impugned orders of the

Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu and J&K Special Tribunal,

Jammu. Both orders i.e. order dated 22.05.2010 passed by the Registrar

Cooperative Societies J&K, Jammu and order dated 24.06.2014 passed by the

J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu are hereby set aside and the order passed by the

Additional Registrar Cooperative Societies is held to be sound on facts and in

law. Thus, the writ petition is allowed.

(Rahul Bharti) Judge

Jammu 08.02.2023 Bunty Whether the order is speaking: Yes/No Whether the order is reportable: Yes/No