R.M. Savant, J.@mdashRule, with the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties made returnable forthwith and heard.
2. The above petition takes exception to the order dated 2/8/2011 passed by the Collector, Gondia whereby the Application of the Petitioner Society for inclusion of the name of its delegate in the voters'' list for participating in the elections to the Board of Directors of the Gondia District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. came to be rejected.
3. In terms of the election programme for the said elections, the provisional list of voters was published on 18/5/2011. The Petitioner Society is one of the Primary Societies, which is entitled to participate in the elections to the Board of Directors of the said Bank. In the provisional list of voters, against the name of the Petitioner, there was a blank, thereby indicating that there was No. delegate insofar as Petitioner was concerned. The Petitioner took an objection insofar as non-inclusion of its delegate is concerned by its letter dated 8/7/2011 forwarding therewith the Resolution passed by the Petitioner Society on 7/7/2011 and thereby indicating that one Kashif Jama Abdul Gaffur Qureshi is its delegate and that his name should be included in the final list of voters. The said Application of the Petitioner came to be rejected by the Collector by the impugned order dated 2/8/2011 on the ground that in terms of Rule 6(5) of the Maharashtra Specified Cooperative Societies Elections to Committees Rules, 1971, the name of the delegate in Form 1A was to be furnished by 29/6/2011 and that having not been done by the Petitioner, the name of its representative could not be included.
4. Insofar as the Petitioner is concerned, there is No. dispute that it has passed a Resolution on 7/7/2011 in favour of said Kashif Jama Abdul Gaffur Qureshi to be its delegate in the elections to the Board of Directors of the Gondia District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. The question is whether the name of the Petitioner''s delegate can now be included in view of the fact that final voters'' list has been published on 5/8/2011. In that regard, it would be relevant to advert to sub-rules (5), (6), (7) of Rule 6 of the said Rules. Sub-rule 5 postulates that any person, who is desirous of being registered as a voter, may apply in writing to the Collector in Form I-A within a period of fifteen days from the date of display of final list of voters under Rule 7. Sub-rule (6) contemplates that every such application received by the Collector shall be forwarded by him within three days of the date of receipt by him to the District Deputy Registrar for enquiry. The District Deputy Registrar thereafter shall cause an enquiry to be made into such application and submit a report to the Collector within seven days from the date of receipt of application by him from the Collector. Sub-rule (7) inter alia contemplates that the Collector shall after considering the application and the report of the District Deputy Registrar, give his decision in writing to the persons concerned before the first date fixed for making nominations. If the Collector decides that the name of the applicant should be registered as a voter, he shall accordingly modify the list finalized under Sub-rule (4) and the list so modified, shall be treated as final list of voters. Hence, it is not as if the Collector is powerless after the final list of voters has been published.
5. In the instant case, as mentioned hereinabove, there is a blank appearing insofar as Petitioner is concerned, thereby meaning that there is No. delegate of the Petitioner, who can participate in the elections of the Gondia District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. The rejection of the Petitioner''s objection has taken place much prior to the finalization of the voters'' list on 5/8/2011, i.e. by the impugned order dated 2/8/2011. It is also pertinent to note that under Rule 5 of the said Rules, even the delegate can be changed in terms of the said Rule, which is not later than seven days before the date appointed by the Collector under Rule 16 of the said Rules for making nominations. In the instant case, as the impugned order discloses, the objection of the Petitioner has been rejected on the ground that the nomination of the said delegate of the Petitioner has not been furnished in Form I-A. In my view, the same would be taking a hyper-technical view of the matter as the Petitioner had made an application on 8/7/2011 along with Resolution passed on 7/7/2011, and the question therefore ought to have been of substance rather than of form. The instant case is also not a case where two persons are vying to be the delegate of the Petitioner Society for participating in the elections. In my view, therefore, the Petitioner cannot be left out of the arena insofar as the said elections to the Board of Directors of the Gondia District Central Cooperative Bank Limited are concerned.
6. Since the elections are at the stage wherein nominations are presently being filed and the last date for the same being 16/8/2011, without so disturbing the election process, it would be just and proper to allow the Petitioner to send its delegate for participation in the elections to the Board of Directors of the Gondia District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. Learned Counsel appearing for the Respondent No. 2 Bank Shri Samarth fairly states that non-inclusion of the name of the representative of the Petitioner does not appear to be justifiable in the context of the material on record. The learned Assistant Government Pleader though opposes the petition, the said opposition in the teeth of the aforesaid facts is without substance.
7. In that view of the matter, the impugned order dated 2/8/2011 passed by the Collector is quashed and set aside and the Collector is directed to include the name of the Petitioner''s delegate Kashif Jama Abdul Gaffur Qureshi in the final list of voters.
8. Rule is accordingly made absolute in the aforesaid terms with parties to bear their respective costs.
The learned Assistant Government Pleader to communicate the aforesaid development to the Collector with expeditious despatch.
Issuance of certified copy is expedited.
