Madras High Court
S.Balakrishnan vs The Deputy Registrar Of Cooperative on 14 September, 2010
Author: K.Chandru
Bench: K.Chandru
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
DATED: 14/09/2010
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE K.CHANDRU
W.P.(MD)NO.4337 of 2007
W.P.(MD)NOs.4340 to 4343, 4988, 5124, 8785,
10115, 10584 and 10710 of 2007, 3177, 3357,
3932, 3950, 4086, 4533, 4543, 5058, 5358,
5389, 5405, 5780, 6269, 6377, 6806, 6906, 7285,
7296, 7482, 7486 to 7488, 7490, 7496, 7497,
8251, 8259, 8304, 8324, 8867, 8996, 9022, 9141,
9176, 9313, 9337, 9508, 9751, 10217, 9925,
10886 and 11479 of 2008 and 3789 of 2009
and
M.P.(MD)Nos.2,1,1,2,1,2,3,1,2,1,2 and 1 of 2007,
1,2,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,1,2,1,1,
2,1,1,1,1,2,1,2,1,2,4,1,2,1,1,2,1,2,3,1,1,1,
1,1,2,1,1,1,1 and 1 of 2008, 1, 1 and 2 of 2009
1.S.Balakrishnan
2.R.Shanmugam
3.M.Pandian .. Petitioners in
W.P.(MD)No.4337 of 2007
Vs.
1.The Deputy Registrar of Cooperative
Societies,
Srivilliputhur Circle,
Naickker Melamada Street,
Srivilliputhur,
Virudhunagar District.
2.The Special Officer,
Q948 Sivakasi Agriculture Producers
Cooperative Marketing Society Ltd.,
83B, Gangiri Road,
Cornesan Colony,
Sivakasi,
Virudhunagar District .. Respondents in
W.P.(MD)No.4337 of 2007
W.P.(MD)No.4337 of 2007 has been preferred under Article 226 of the Constitution
of India praying for the issue of a writ of certiorari to call for the records
on the file of the respondents relating to the order of the second respondent
dated 20.04.2007 withholding the settlement dated 13.03.1997 concluded under
Section 12(3) of the Industrial Disputes Act and to quash the same.
!For Petitioners ... Mr.V.O.S.Kalaiselvam
Mr.M.Subramaniam
Mr.R.Rajaraman
Mr.Veerakathiravan
Mr.G.R.Swaminathan
Mr.S.Muthukrishnan
Mr.R.Saravanan, Mr.R.Karuppan
Mr.B.Prahlad Ravi
for M/s.Hallmark Associates
Mr.L.Shaji Chellan
Mr.S.Palanivelayutham
Mr.V.Kathirvelu
Mr.T.Selvakumaran
Mr.V.Chandrasekar
Mr.K.Appadurai
Mr.Sree Kumaran Nair
Mr.R.Suresh Kumar
Mr.R.Sundar Srinivasan
Mr.F.Deepak, Mr.G.Ethirajulu
Mr.M.Subramanian
Mr.P.Subbaraj, Mr.C.K.M.Appaji
Mr.M.Saravanakumar
Mr.C.T.Perumal,Mr.D.Sadiq Raja
Mr.V.R.Venkatesan
Mr.S.Natarajan, Mr.N.Sathish Babu
Mr.T.Leninkumar, Mr.M.Ajmal Khan
Mr.S.Muthukrishnan
Mr.N.Damodaran, Mr.R.Ramasamy
Mr.K.Raja, Mr.A.Jeyaram
Mr.F.X.Eugene
Mr.C.Jaya Indra Patel
^For Respondents ... Mr.S.C.Herold Singh, GA
Mr.K.Balasubramaniam for R-2
in W.P.(MD)No.4337/2007
Mr.K.Balasubramanian for R-3
in W.P.(MD)Nos.4340 to 4343/2007
and for respondents
in W.P.(MD)No.10710 of 2007
Mr.S.Sivamanogaran in
W.P.(MD)No.4988/2007 and
for R-2 in W.P.(MD)No.3177/2008
Mr.C.Muthu Saravanan
Mrs.V.Chellammal for R-2
in W.P.(MD)No.10584 of 2007
Mr.Pala Ramasamy for R-2
in W.P.(MD)No.3357/2008
Mr.M.Saravanakumar
Mr.So.Paramasivam for RR1 and 2
in W.P.(MD)No.4086/2008
Mr.K.M.Vijayakumar
in W.P.(MD)No.4533/2008 and
for R-3 in W.P.(MD)No.7490/2008 &
in W.P.(MD)No.8996/2008 and
for R-2 in W.P.(MD)No.9176/2008
and also in W.P.(MD)No.10886/2008
Mr.G.R.Swaminathan for R-1
in W.P.(MD)No.5389/2008
Mr.V.O.S.Kalaiselvam for R-1 and
Mr.C.Sundaravadivel for RR2 to 5
in W.P.(MD)No.5780 of 2008
Mr.J.Parekh Kumar
Mr.D.Sasikumar for R-3
in W.P.(MD)No.6906 of 2008
Mr.G.Manivannan for R-3
in W.P.(MD)No.7285 of 2008
MR.D.Gandhiraj for RR3 and 4
in W.P.(MD)No.7482 of 2008
Mr.S.Seenivasagam
in W.P.(MD)No.7496 of 2008 and
for R-3 in W.P.(MD)No.9313/2008
and in W.P.(MD)No.9751 of 2008
Mr.R.Saravanan for R-2
in W.P.(MD)No.8251 of 2008
Mr.D.Shanmugaraja Sethupathi
for R-5 in WP(MD)No.8304/2008
Mr.R.Janakiramulu for R-2
in W.P.(MD)No.8324 of 2008
Mr.K.Jeyaraman for R-3
in W.P.(MD)No.9022/2008
Mr.R.Sivamanogaran
- - - -
:COMMON ORDER
These writ petitions arise out of orders passed by the Special Officers of Cooperative Societies registered under the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, 1983 or actions initiated by other societies. The nature of relief claimed in each of the writ petition is briefly set out below:
Sl.No. W.P.No. Relief claimed 1 W.P.(MD)No.4337 of 2007 Withholding S.12(3) settlement 2 W.P.(MD)Nos.4340 to To pay minimum salary 4343 of 2007 G.O.Ms.No.145, dt.1.8.2005 3 W.P.(MD)No.4988 of 2007 To quash Suspension order 4 W.P.(MD)No.5124 of 2007 Claiming wages and regularise the period of suspension 5 W.P.(MD)No.8785 of 2007 Challenging the order of Redeployment 6 W.P.(MD)No.10115 of 2007 Permit to joint duty 7 W.P.(MD)No.10584 of 2007 To quash suspension order 8 W.P.(MD)No.10710 of 2007 To quash suspension order 9 W.P.(MD)No.3177 of 2008 Transfer order 10 W.P.(MD)No.3357 of 2008 To quash termination order and to reinstate in service 11 W.P.(MD)No.3932 of 2008 To quash suspension order 12 W.P.(MD)No.3950 of 2008 To quash the order of termination and relinquishment and seeks to reinstate in service 13 W.P.(MD)No.4086 of 2008 Retirement and seeks to pay the gratuity amount and pension benefits 14 W.P.(MD)Nos.4533 and 4543 To quash the order of suspension of 2008 15 W.P.(MD)Nos.5058 of 2008 Order of recovery 16 W.P.(MD)No.5358 of 2008 Denial of promotion 17 W.P.(MD)No.5389 of 2008 To disburse the arrears of salary and retirement benefits 18 W.P.(MD)No.5405 of 2008 To declare the suspension as illegal 19 W.P.(MD)No.5780 of 2008 Seniority 20 W.P.(MD)No.6269 of 2008 To quash the order of dismissal and to reinstate in service 21 W.P.(MD)No.6377 of 2008 Quash charge memo, enquiry report and dismissal order and to reinstate in service 22 W.P.(MD)No.6806 of 2008 To quash the suspension order and to reinstate in service 23 W.P.(MD)No.6906 of 2008 To quash suspension order and to reinstate in service 24 W.P.(MD)No.7285 of 2008 To disburse DA arrears 25 W.P.(MD)No.7296 of 2008 To quash suspension order and to reinstate in service 26 W.P.(MD)No.7482 of 2008 Coverage under the insurance scheme 27 W.P.(MD)Nos.7486 to 7488 To quash the suspension order and to of 2008 reinstate in service 28 W.P.(MD)No.7490 of 2008 To prepare seniority list 29 W.P.(MD)No.7496 of 2008 To quash the order of suspension 30 w.P.(MD)No.7497 of 2008 Not to interfere in the discharge of petitioner's duty 31 W.P.(MD)No.8251 of 2008 Not to interfere in the discharge of petitioner's duty 32 W.P.(MD)No.8259 of 2008 To quash the enquiry report 33 W.P.(MD)No.8304 of 2008 To consider for the post of Assistant without age bar 34 W.P.(MD)No.8324 of 2008 To quash the resolution (dismissal) and to reinstate in service 35 W.P.(MD)No.8867 of 2008 To quash the suspension order 36 W.P.(MD)No.8996 of 2008 To release the balance PF 37 W.P.(MD)No.9022 of 2008 For promotion 38 W.P.(MD)No.9141 of 2008 To quash the order of suspension 39 W.P.(MD)No.9176 of 2008 To call for interview 40 W.P.(MD)No.9313 of 2008 To quash the dismissal order and to pay past months' salary 41 W.P.(MD)No.9337 of 2008 To settle the retirement benefits 42 W.P.(MD)No.9508 of 2008 To regularise the service of petitioner 43 W.P.(MD)No.9751 of 2008 To quash the suspension order and to reinstate in service 44 W.P.(MD)No.10217 of 2008 To quash the suspension order and to reinstate in service 45 W.P.(MD)No.9925 and 10886 To appoint as Assistants of 2008 46 W.P.(MD)No.11479 of 2008 To settle the terminal benefits 47 W.P.(MD)No.3789 of 2009 Show cause notice for recovery and for a direction to disburse gratuity and terminal benefits
2.It must be noted that a Larger Bench of this court in K.Marappan Vs. The Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Namakkal Circle, Namakkal-636 001 and another reported in 2006 (4) CTC 689 had held that a writ petition will not lie against a Cooperative Society even if they are headed by a Special Officer appointed by the Act of State Legislature.
3.In cases where suspensions are attacked on the ground that orders of suspension do not specify the period of suspension in terms of Section 76(1) of the Act, a Full Bench of this court in A.S.Subramani Vs. Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tindivanam Region reported in 2006 (4) CTC 444, negatived such a claim and rejected the contentions made in this regard.
4.In cases if there were denial of subsistence allowance or termination, arguments were made on the ground that it would amount to deprivation of livelihood which is akin to deprivation of liberty and thus such deprivations are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, in such cases, maintainability of writ petitions is not in doubt. Even that issue came to be considered by a subsequent Full Bench in T.K.Ananda Sayanan Vs. Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Vellore Region reported in 2007 (5) CTC 1. In that case, rejecting the contentions based on Article 21, the Full Bench held that Marappan's case (cited supra) squarely covers even those cases and aggrieved persons will have to find their remedies either under the provisions of the Act or under any other enactments applicable to such employees.
5.Thereafter, in cases where terminations were sought to be made on grounds that appointments were either irregular or due to lack of qualifications, certain groups of writ petitions came to be filed stating that the Government had taken a policy decision to absorb such employees and till such time, the court must give protective orders. Even those cases came to be rejected by a Full Bench of this court in R.Radhakrishnan Vs. Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Dindigul reported in 2007 (4) LLN 868.
6.In the light of the above binding precedents, this court is unable to countenance any of the prayer made in these writ petitions. Hence all writ petitions will stand dismissed. However, there will be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions stand closed.
7.The dismissal of these writ petitions will not disentitle the petitioners from approaching appropriate forums for getting their grievances settled.
vvk To
1.The Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Srivilliputhur Circle, Naickker Melamada Street, Srivilliputhur, Virudhunagar District.
2.The Special Officer, Q948 Sivakasi Agriculture Producers Cooperative Marketing Society Ltd., 83B, Gangiri Road, Cornesan Colony, Sivakasi, Virudhunagar District