Telangana High Court
Smt. Manda Anusuja Devi vs The State Of Telangana on 24 January, 2024
Author: Nagesh Bheemapaka
Bench: Nagesh Bheemapaka
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA
WRIT PETITION No. 27348 OF 2021
And
WRIT PETITION No. 40679 OF 2022
O R D E R:
Heard Sri C. Damodar Reddy, learned Senior Counsel representing Sri C. Ruthwik Reddy, learned counsel for petitioners in Writ Petition No. 27348 of 2021, Sri Bajrang Singh Thakur, learned counsel for petitioner in Writ Petition No. 40679 of 2022, learned Government Pleader for Cooperation on behalf of Respondents 1 to 3 and Sri M. Venkat Divakar on behalf of the 4th respondent.
2. Writ Petition No. 27348 of 2021 is filed seeking the following relief:
" .... to issue Writ of Order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondent No. 3 in issuing the proceedings in RC No. 1906/2021-H dated: 13.09.2021 refusing to consider our representation dated 02.03.2021 for declaration of the Minutes of the General Body Meetings dated: 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 of 4th respondent society as null and void, as bad, arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional and contrary to the orders dated 25.06.2021 in W.P.No. 14283 of 2021 passed by this Hon'ble Court and Consequently direct the respondents No. 2 & 3 to declare the Minutes of the General Body Meeting 2 dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 as null and void by considering our representations dated 02.03.2021 and pass such other order or orders....".
Writ Petition No. 40679 of 2022 is filed seeking the following relief:
" to pass an order or writ particularly writ of Mandamus declaring the General Body Meeting dt: 29/09/2017 by the respondent No. 4 at 9:30 A.M. at site Mani Nagar, Manikonda Jagir, Near Q City, Financial Dist., Hyderabad - 500107 and removal of name of the husband of the petitioner, Sri. M. Babu Rao S/o Yellaiah, with Society Admission No. 626 of the respondent No.4's society, allotte of Plot No. 515, admeasuring 169 Sq. Mts., equivalent to 203 Sq. yds., in Sy. Nos. 203/P, 204, 205, 206, 207,208, 209 and 210 /P, admeasuring 50 Ac.00 Gts., situated at Manikonda Jagir Village, Rajendra Nagar Mandal, Ranga Reddy District and declare the same as null and void, permitting the petitioner to represent as the member of the Respondent No.4's society in the place of her husband for his admission No. 626 by giving all the benefits on par with other members."
3. Since prayer in both the Writ Petitions is similar in nature, they were heard together.
4. The case of petitioners in Writ Petition No. 27348 of 2021 is that in 2019, management was taken over by the Official Person-in-charge and on verification of records of the 4th respondent Society submitted by the ex-Managing Committee, petitioners came to know that the ex-Managing Committee created false Minutes of General Body Meetings held on 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019. On coming to know about fabrication of minutes of general body 3 meetings, petitioners along with other members had submitted a detailed representation dated 02.03.2021 to Respondents 2 and 3 narrating the above said fabrication of minutes and the illegal activities done by the ex-Managing Committee and requested them to declare the said minutes as null and void. Petitioners further contend that in spite of receipt of representation on 02.03.2021, when Respondents 2 and 3 deliberately failed to take action on the said representation, they filed Writ Petition No. 14283 of 2021 before this Court, wherein, by order dated 25.06.2021, respondents were directed to consider and dispose of the representation dated 02.03.2021 as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of six weeks.
Petitioners also state that basing on the representation dated 02.03.2021, the 3rd respondent obtained enquiry report dated 14.06.2021 from the Assistant Registrar / Field Officer, Shadnagar, Ranga Reddy District wherein the Enquiry Officer specifically mentioned that ex-Managing Committee had committed grave irregularities in the affairs of the society and minutes of the general body meetings were recorded in a fraudulent way to suit their mala fide intention and minutes of general body meetings dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 are found as fabricated and are 4 liable to be declared as null and void. They further state that in spite of receipt of detailed enquiry report dated 14.06.2021 and copy of order dated 25.06.2021, the 3rd respondent deliberately failed to consider valid reasons/grounds mentioned in the representation and having noticed the irregularities committed by the ex-Managing Committee of the 4th respondent Society in fabricating the minutes, even without hearing petitioners personally, the 3rd respondent issued proceedings in Rc. No. 1906/2021-H dated 13.09.2021 disposing of the representation very vaguely stating that the representation dated 02.03.2021 cannot be considered since several issues are pending before this Court and Cooperative Tribunal relating to Society and a statutory enquiry is under progress and any further action in this regard will be taken based on the recommendation of the Enquiry Officer.
Aggrieved by the proceedings dated 13.09.2021, petitioners filed the present Writ Petition since the said proceedings issued by the 3rd respondent were without application of mind and without considering the findings of enquiry report dated 14.06.2021 and the same is liable to be set aside.
5. Respondents 1 to 3 filed the counter stating that the core issue of petitioners and all the cases pending is with 5 regard to various types of irregularities committed by the Ex- Managing Committee of the 4th respondent Society in allotment of plots and therefore, the 2nd respondent issued proceedings vide Rc. No. 10192/2017-HR2 dated 07.10.2020 ordering a statutory enquiry under Section 51 of Telangana Cooperative Societies Act, 1964 into the affairs of the 4th respondent society. The said enquiry has been completed and the inquiry officer has submitted the inquiry report. It is further submitted that this Court vide order dated 15.02.2020 in Writ Petition No. 34790 of 2021 granted interim suspension of proceedings dated 07.10.2020 of the Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Telangana, Hyderabad. Therefore, further action on statutory inquiry findings could not be taken up.
6. The 4th respondent filed its counter stating that the ex-Managing Committee and ex-PIC Committee have not submitted records pertaining to the alleged meeting notice dated 14.09.2017, as such, the 4th respondent is not in a position to offer reply. It is further stated that they do not have records pertaining to the notice said to be issued for General body meeting dated 29.09.2017, except in Minutes Book, agenda notice and minutes of meeting dated 29.09.2017 are affixed in the Minutes Book and the file 6 related to agenda notice is not available. The 4th respondent also states that the ex-Managing Committee and ex-PIC Committee have not submitted records pertaining to alleged meeting notice dated 03.03.2019, whereas agenda notice and minutes of meeting dated 17.03.2019 is affixed in minutes book in Volume (10). The 4th respondent specifically stated that Ex-Managing Committee has not followed due procedure as per the Act while removal / admission of members and allotment of plots to members. The 4th respondent also stated that ex-Managing Committee members in the alleged General Body Meetings removed / admitted several members in their places on the same day and Petitioner Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 were removed in General Body Meeting dated 29.09.2017, whereas, Petitioner No. 4 was removed in the General Body Meeting dated 28.09.2016 from their primary membership of Society and records of sending notices to petitioners before the alleged removal and their acknowledgement for receipt of notice are not available in the records of the 4th respondent Society.
7. Learned Senior Counsel for petitioners argued that reason for not disposing of the representation dated 02.03.2021 of petitioners is vague and even after recording that the Minutes of the General Body Meetings dated 7 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 as false and fabricated as substantiated by the enquiry report dated 14.06.2021 issued by the Asst. Registrar/ Field officer, Shadnagar, RR District, the 3rd Respondent failed to declare the Minutes as null and void, hence, prayed to declare Minutes of the General Body Meetings dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 as null and void.
Learned Senior Counsel argued that the alleged Minutes of General Body Meeting dated 20.09.2015 are fabricated, as evidenced by the report dated 08.10.2015 of the Assistant Registrar/ SDLCO, Golconda. He submits that alleged minutes of meeting dated 20.09.2015 do not state correct facts of events of the meeting and there are several changes made by the Ex-Managing Committee which are false. It is bought to the notice of the Court that the agenda item No. 8 was 'Expulsion of members as per the report of the Managing Committee under Bye-law No. 28(26) g and Sec. 31- A(23)(g)". The minutes of the meeting states that General Body resolved with more than two-third majority to expel Sri Rajender Reddy as member of the Society as he acted deliberately adverse and detrimental to Society causing great damage. However, the official observer i.e. Sri P. Praveen Kumar, Assistant Registrar / SDLCO, Golconda who attended 8 the meeting as official observer as per the instructions of the DLCO, Golconda, submitted his observation report on 08.10.2015 which states that "Expulsion of members Sri. K. Rajender Reddy, Ex-President of the Society as per the report of the Managing Committee under the Bye-law No. 28(26) g and Section 31-A (23)(g) for dishonesty during his tenure. In this case the president had given a chance to the members attended and made it clear to them. The members had given different opinions in this regard. The General Body has not taken any final decision regarding expulsion in the meeting." Therefore, the minutes of the General Body Meeting dated 20.09.2015 are fabricated and hence, should be declared null and void.
Learned Senior Counsel argued that the alleged Minutes of General Body Meeting dated 29.09.2017 are fabricated since the agenda Notice dated 14.09.2017 and the minutes of meeting dated 29.09.2017 are different. The Ex- managing committee unilaterally without any consent of the members nor with their knowledge nor any discussion in the General Body meeting nor issuing notices to the effected members, removed 62 existing members from the society and included 52 new members and restored the membership of 10 members. It is argued by the learned Senior Counsel that, any 9 General Body Meeting should be conducted with the agenda items given to its members at least 15 days before the meeting. However, it can be seen from the minutes of the meeting that the items included in the minutes were not intimated in the agenda items. Further, Section 21 of the Telangana Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 states that "no member shall be removed under this sub-section unless he had an opportunity of making a representation against the proposed action. A copy of the resolution removing the member shall be communicated to such person and on such communication, he shall be deemed to have ceased to be a member of the society" .The Ld. Senior Counsel argued that no intimation nor the opportunity was given to the members removed from the membership, nor any intimation of such removal from membership was communicated to the members. Further, no such resolution was passed in the General Body meeting dated 29.09.2017. The items were simply included into the minutes of the meeting at the time of handing over the documents to the official PIC in the year 2019. Even, the Respondent No. 4 in its counter states that the Ex-managing committee have not followed the due procedure as per Act while removal, admission of members and allotment of plots to the members. Hence, the minutes of 10 the General Body Meeting dated 29.09.2017 is fabricated and hence should be declared null and void.
Learned Senior Counsel argued that the alleged Minutes of the General Body Meeting dated 17.03.2019 is fabricated since the official observer for the meeting reported to the DCO, Ranga Reddy District vide his report dated 18.03.2019 that the Secretary of Society declared that General Body so called was cancelled. However, on verification of records of the Society which was submitted by the Ex- Managing Committee to the Official Person-in-charge in 2019, minutes of the meeting were recorded. It is argued that Minutes of the three General Body Meetings were created by the Ex-Managing Committee to remove genuine members of the Society and to include members without any authority. The Collector, Ranga Reddy District vide Lr. No. LC2/612/1990 dated 21.01.2019 and 28.04.2020 has submitted a detailed report regarding irregularities committed by the Ex-managing Committee and requested the Government for entrustment of this case either to the agency of ACB officials or CBI officials, as the case may be for necessary probe. Hence, the learned Senior Counsel prayed to declare the Minutes of the General Body Meetings dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 as null and void. 11
8. Learned Government Pleader for Respondents 1 to 3 submits that since there are several issues pending before this Court as well as Cooperative Tribunal relating to Society and a statutory enquiry is under progress, any further action in this regard can only be taken based on the recommendation of the enquiry officer.
9. Learned Counsel for the 4th respondent stated that Ex-Managing Committee had not provided the entire record of the Society and documents available in the Society disclose that Ex-Managing Committee had not followed due process and per the Act, during General Body Meeting while removal / admission of new members and on allotment of plots to the members. It is further stated that Ex-Managing Committee did not handover full records to PICs including original applications of the members, plot allotment and cancellation registers and there are several allegations against the Ex-Managing Committee.
10. This Court perused the documents filed along with the Writ Petitions and counters. On examination, it is observed that the official observers reports dated 08.10.2015 and 18.03.2019 on the General Body Meetings dated 20.09.2015 and 17.03.2019 to the DCO and the Minutes of General Body Meeting filed by the 4th respondent are different. 12 It is further observed that the agenda of meeting dated 14.09.2017 and Minutes of General Body Meeting dated 29.09.2017 are different with respect to removal and admission of members in the 4th respondent Society. There are several discrepancies in the Minutes of the meetings filed by the 4th respondent Society. Firstly, the 4th respondent in its counter stated that agenda notices and minutes of meeting are affixed in Minutes Book and are not written in the Minutes book which clearly indicate that Minutes were included as an afterthought. Secondly, Section 21 of the Telangana Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 states that "no member shall be removed under this sub-section unless he had an opportunity of making a representation against the proposed action. A copy of Resolution removing the member shall be communicated to such person and on such communication, he shall be deemed to have ceased to be a member of the society." The 4th respondent Society had failed to provide any document to show that an opportunity for making a representation to the Society was provided to the members who were removed and further, no document was filed to show that proper copy of Resolution removing the member was sent to the removed member.
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11. This Court further observed that the 3rd respondent in its letter filed as Ex. P-1, accepted that Minutes of General Body Meetings dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 are fabricated as per the report dated 14.06.2021 submitted by the Asst. Registrar / Field Officer, Shadnagar, Ranga Reddy District. However, failed to declare Minutes of General Body Meetings dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 as null and void since there are several cases pending before this Court and Cooperative Tribunals. The said reason for not declaring the Minutes of the Meetings as null and void by the 3rd respondent is not tenable. There is no bar or any stay order of this Court on the 3rd respondent to decide the representation filed by the petitioners on its merits.
12. Both the Writ Petitions are accordingly, allowed. This Court declares that Minutes of General Body Meetings dated 20.09.2015, 29.09.2017 and 17.03.2019 as submitted by the Ex- Management Committee to the Official PIC are fabricated and hence null and void. Respondents 2 to 4 are directed to make necessary changes in the register of members of Hyderabad District Government Employees Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. accordingly within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs.
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13. Consequently, the miscellaneous Applications, if any shall stand closed.
-------------------------------------- NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA, J 24th January 2024 ksld