Madhya Pradesh High Court
Surendra Kumar Jain vs Registrar And Commissoner Of ... on 15 March, 2017
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Writ Petition Nos.2182/2015, 2183/2015, 2184/2015, 2185/2015,
2186/2015, 2187/2015, 2188/2015, 2617/2015, 3501/2015,
3502/2015 and 3503/2015
15/03/2017
Mr. Anand Singh Baharawat and Ms. Meena Chaphekar,
learned counsel for the petitioner(s).
Mr. Sudarshan Joshi, learned counsel for the respondent(s).
Mr. Sudhanshu Vyas, learned counsel for the respondent/ State.
Regard being had to the similitude in the controversy involved in the present cases, the writ petitions were analogously heard and by a common order, they are being disposed of by this Court. Facts of Writ Petition No.2182/2015 are narrated hereunder.
The petitioner before this Court has filed this present writ petition being aggrieved by the list submitted by the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies in respect of the Members who are entitled to receive a plot in Vikas Apartment Cooperative Housing Society Ltd., The contention of the petitioner is that he has applied for a plot in the respondent No.3 - Society which is a registered Society under the provisions of the M.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 by depositing Membership Fee on 29/09/1993 and he has also deposited a lumpsum amount of Rs.10,000/- towards land cost and development charges in the year 1995. He has applied for allotment of plot admeasuring 1500 sq.ft. in Shantikunj Colony, Indore developed by Indore Development Authority, however, as plot was not allotted to him, he raised a dispute before the Dy. Registrar, Cooperative Societies and the Dy. Registrar Cooperative Societies has passed an -2- order in his favour on 21/6/2013. Petitioner has further stated that the Indore Development Authority as well as the Society have filed an appeal before the Joint Registrar against the order dated 21/6/2013 and the Joint Registrar has dismissed the appeal on 9/8/2016 meaning thereby, the order which was passed in favour of the petitioner has been upheld. While all this was going on, large number of claims over seniority list and allotment of plots were raised before the Dy. Registrar and the matter has finally travelled to this Court in Writ Petition No. 926/2009 and the Division Bench of this Court has passed the following order :-
"A list of the members was forwarded by Vikas Apartment Cooperative Housing Society-respondent No. 3 to Indore Development Authority (IDA) for making allotment of the plots to its members. The present petitioner was aggrieved against the aforesaid list of members and claimed that the said list was factually incorrect, and did not contain his name, who was otherwise entitled to the allotment of the plot. Consequently, he approached the Joint Registrar by filing a revision petition. The revision petition filed by the petitioner was allowed by the Joint Registrar vide order dated December 4, 2007, Annexure P-3.
It may be noticed that in the aforesaid revisional proceedings, the present respondent No. 1-Bherulal had filed an intervention application, challenging the maintainability of the said revision petition. The said intervention application was however kept pending and no formal order appears to have been passed thereupon, although respondent No. 1 (the said applicant) was given an opportunity of audience at the time of arguments of the case.
Since the revision petition filed by the petitioner was allowed by the Joint Registrar on December 4, 2007, present respondent No. 1- Bherulal filed a further revision before the M.P. State Cooperative Tribunal, challenging the order of the Joint Registrar. In the said revisional proceedings, the present petitioner challenged the locus- standi of Bherulal to file the said revision petition, by claiming that since the intervention application filed by him had not been allowed, therefore the said revision petition was not maintainable. However, through an order dated January 27, 2009, Annexure P-4, the learned Tribunal has allowed the revision petition filed by Bherulal and set -3- aside the order passed by the Joint Registrar.
It is in these circumstances that the petition has approached this Court through the present petition challenging the order of the Tribunal, Annexure P-4.
We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the record of the case.
In our considered view, since the petitioner had raised a challenge to the correctness of the merit/seniority list of members submitted by respondent No. 3-society to IDA, and had approached the Joint Registrar with the aforesaid challenge, and respondent No. 1 is maintaining that the said seniority list is correct and allotment of the plot should be made on that basis by IDA, therefore, we deem it appropriate to direct the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Society- respondent No. 5, to hold an enquiry into the matter, with regard to the correctness or otherwise of the list prepared by respondent No. 3- society, and find out as to whether the aforesaid list is enforceable or not, in accordance with law.
Consequently, we allow the present petition and quash the two orders dated December 4, 2007, Annexure P-3 passed by the Joint Registrar and the order dated January 27, 2009, Annexure P-4, passed by the Tribunal.
The parties shall appear before the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Indore on March 8, 2010.
The petitioner, in order to elaborate his specific challenge, would be required to file a detailed and comprehensive claim petition, appending the relevant document therewith, before the Joint Registrar, within 10 days of appearance. Thereafter the Joint Registrar shall afford an opportunity to respondent No. 1-Bherulal and respondent No. 3-society to file their counter-claims/objections to the claim petition filed by the petitioner thereafter, after following the due procedure, and on verification of the relevant document and record and after affording an opportunity to all the affected parties, who may like to be heard in the matter, take an appropriate decision by passing a detailed and speaking order. On such verification, a list shall be prepared by the Joint Registrar which shall be duly forwarded to IDA for further appropriate action in the matter.
The Joint Registrar, shall also make an endeavour to conclude the aforesaid proceedings within a period of six months from the date of appearance of the parties.
It is further directed that the interim protection granted by this Court vide order dated February 12, 2009, shall continue to operate till the conclusion of the proceedings before the Joint Registrar."-4-
The Division Bench has directed the Joint Registrar to prepare a list of eligible persons for allotment of plot and the Joint Registrar has finally prepared a list on 21/10/2014 and the same has been forwarded to the Indore Development Authority. The petitioner's grievance is that his name does not find place in the aforesaid list. He has been held as not entitled for allotment of plot in the list prepared by the Joint Registrar.
Learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently argued before this Court that once a dispute has been decided in his favour, the Joint Registrar has dismissed the appeal against the order dated 21/06/2013, he is certainly entitled for the plot and subsequent report submitted by the Joint Registrar without hearing the petitioner at any point of time, is not binding upon the petitioner.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent - State has argued before this Court that the petitioner is having an alternative remedy to challenge the list before the M.P. Cooperative Tribunal which is now in existence, u/S. 77(14) and the Tribunal be directed to decide the dispute finally. He has also stated that some cases are pending before the Tribunal in respect of the same Society and, therefore, the Tribunal be directed to decide the dispute including the dispute relating to eligibility, seniority and allotment of plots.
In the light of the aforesaid, this Court is of the considered opinion that as there is an alternative remedy available to the petitioner, the present Writ Petition is disposed of with the following directions :
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(a) The petitioner shall be free to prefer a revision u/S. 77(14) of the Cooperative Societies Act against the enquiry report dated 21/10/2014. In case the revision is preferred within 30 days from today, the same shall be treated as revision within limitation and the Tribunal shall decide the same on merits;
(b) while deciding the revision preferred by the petitioner, the Tribunal shall take into account the order already passed by the Dy. Registrar dt. 21/6/2013 and the order of the Joint Registrar dt. 9/8/2016.
(c) the petitioner shall also be free to raise all possible grounds before the Tribunal which were raised before the Joint Registrar in the matter. The Tribunal shall also issue notices to all the respondents, to the State of Madhya Pradesh as well as to the Indore Development Authority and shall hear them also while passing a final order in the matter.
(d) the Tribunal shall make all possible efforts to decide the revision as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of six months from the date a revision is filed before the Tribunal.
(e) till the matter is finally decided by the Tribunal no allotment of any kind will take place in the matter.
With the aforesaid, all the present Writ Petitions stand disposed of.
Certified Copy as per rules.
(S. C. SHARMA) JUDGE Tej