Uttarakhand High Court
Bijendra Pal Singh & Others ... ... vs Himanshu Dwivedi & Others on 22 May, 2024
Author: Pankaj Purohit
Bench: Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Pankaj Purohit
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT
NAINITAL
Special Appeal No. 769 of 2017
Bijendra Pal Singh & Others ... Petitioners
Versus
Himanshu Dwivedi & Others ... Respondents
Mr. Siddhartha Singh, Advocate, for the
appellants.
Mr. Pradeep Kumar Chauhan, Advocate, for the
respondent no. 1.
Mr. S.S. Chaudhary, Brief Holder, for the
State/respondent no. 3 to 5.
Mr. Ajay Veer Pundir, Advocate, for the
respondent no. 6 and 7.
Mr. V.K. Kohli, Senior Advocate, for the
respondent no. 8.
Mr. Pradeep Kumar Chauhan, Mr. Vinod Tiwari,
Mr. G.C Kandpal, Mr. Shivanand Bhatt, Counsel
for the newly impleaded respondents.
JUDGMENT
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.
Hon'ble Pankaj Purohit, J.
This appeal is directed against the
judgment and order dated 3.4.2014, passed by
learned Single Judge of this Court, whereby
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 551 of 2014 and two
other connected writ petitions were disposed of
in the following terms.
"1. Learned Registrar, Cooperative
Society shall prepare tentative list of
members of the Housing Cooperative
Society within four weeks from today and
shall publish the same in two newspapers,
having circulation in District Haridwwar,
one should be in a vernacular language,
inviting objections from all eligible within
fifteen days from the date of publication.
Thereafter, he shall finalise the list of the
members within four weeks and publish it
in two newspapers having circulation in
district Haridwar, one of which should be in
vernacular language.
2. Thereafter, Registrar shall finalise the
election programme and shall get it publish
in two newspapers having circulation in
District Haridwar, one of which should be in
vernacular language, within next four
weeks.
3. Election shall be held under the
supervision of the Registrar, Cooperative
Society, Uttarakhand or his representative
who shall not be below the rank of Deputy
Registra, as per the programme published.
4. Newly elected Management Committee
shall be handed over charge of the Society
by the Administrator.
5. Thereafter, learned Registrar
Cooperative Society shall invite the
objections through publication in two
newspapers having circulation in District
Haridwar on the legality / illegality of the
alleged allotment of the plots and shall
decide the same after perusing the record
and objections and hearing all the
interested within next four weeks.
6. If Registrar Cooperative Society,
Uttarakhand finds illegality in the allotment
or finds that earlier all the members were
not given opportunity to participate in the
allotment process, he shall cancel the
allotments and shall issue appropriate
directions for the de novo allotment
amongst the members of the Society."
2. The appellants herein were not party
to the writ petition. They filed this appeal with
application seeking leave to appeal. For the
reasons indicated in the application, we are
inclined to allow the same. Accordingly, leave
to appeal application no. 12487 of 2017 is
allowed.
3. This Court, vide order dated
4.7.2023, directed the appellants to get public
notice published in two newspapers having
wide circulation in and around District Haridwar
so that all persons interested in allotment of
residential plots may have their say in the
matter. Pursuant to the public notice issued in
terms of the said order, 256 persons have
responded by moving impleadment
applications and they are represented by their
respective Counsel.
4. Heard learned Counsel for the
parties and perused the record.
5. Learned Counsel for the parties
unanimously submit that they have no
grievance against the process adopted by the
Administrator of BHEL Griha Nirman Samiti for
allotment of residential plots and their only
concern is that persons, who were not eligible
to become member of the cooperative society
and thus were not eligible for allotment of
residential plots, should be identified and
removed from the list of allottees. They further
submit that except preparation of list of
allottees, no further steps have been taken and
the allottees have not been given possession of
the allotted plots.
6. Mr. Siddhartha Singh, learned
Counsel for the appellants, Mr. P.K. Chauhan,
learned Counsel for the respondent no. 1 and
some newly impleaded respondents, Mr. Ajay
Veer Pundir, learned Counsel for the
respondent no. 6 and 7, Mr. V.K. Kohli, learned
Senior Counsel appearing for the respondent
no. 8, and other Counsels appearing for those
respondents, who were permitted to be
impleaded pursuant to orders of this Court,
submit that certain persons, who were not
eligible for allotment of plots, were also
considered for allotment in the process
adopted by the Administrator of the
cooperative society, therefore, the Registrar,
Cooperative Societies, Uttarakhand be directed
to examine, in the light of bylaws of BHEL
Griha Nirman Samiti, the eligibility of all
persons, who were included in the list of
members prepared for making allotment of
residential plots, including those who were
declared successful in the allotment process,
and to remove such persons, who are found
not to be eligible to become member of the
said society.
7. Accordingly, with the consent of all
parties, the Special Appeal is disposed of by
providing that Registrar, Cooperative Societies,
Uttarakhand shall examine eligibility of all
persons, who were considered for allotment in
the draw of lots, due to their inclusion in the
list of members, in the light of bylaws of BHEL
griha Nirman Samiti, and identify persons
found ineligible within six weeks. Registrar
shall give general notice by publication in a
widely circulated Hindi Newspaper to such
ineligible persons, asking them to file
objections within 15 days and after considering
objections, if any, Registrar shall finalize list of
persons eligible to become member of the
society by removing ineligible persons. Order
of allotment, if passed in favour of persons
found ineligible shall stand cancelled, and the
plots thus becoming available shall be allotted
to other eligible persons by draw of lots.
8. After revising the list of members of
the BHEL Griha Nirman Samiti, Registrar shall
take necessary steps to hold elections for
reconstituting its Committee of Management.
9. It is made clear that we have not
interfered with the directions issued by the
learned Single Judge in the impugned
judgment.
(Pankaj Purohit, J.) (Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.)
22.5.2024
Pr
