N K MEHTA Vs. STATE OF J&K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN the writ petition, which has been dismissed by the judgment and order under appeal, the appellants contended that they are entitled to serve their employer, namely, the State Cooperative Agriculture Rural Development Bank Limited until the age of 60 years and not until the age of 58 years, as was being contended by their employer. The judgment under appeal has been rendered, principally, upon relying on a Division Bench Judgment of this Court, which was rendered on April 30, 1999 in the case of Ved Pal Sharma v Citizens Co -operative Bank Ltd., reported in 2000 SLJ 117. The said Division Bench judgment followed the judgment earlier rendered by a Single Bench of this Court in CSA No.35/1994,reported as Kuldip Raj v Citizen Co -operative Bank Ltd., in 1988 KLJ 83. The law which stood changed after April 30, 1999 was, therefore, not noticed in the said Division Bench and Single Bench judgments.

(2.) THERE appears to be no dispute that the employer -society was governed by the J&K Cooperative Societies Act, 1960. There appears to be also no dispute that the employer society on July 3, 1971 made service rules in relation to its employees. The learned Judge, while rendering the judgment and order under appeal, proceeded on the basis that the said service rules have not been registered with the Registrar of Co -operative Societies whereas the service rules upon which reliance has been placed clearly show that the same stand registered with the Registrar, Cooperative Societies. That the said rules were registered with the Registrar, Cooperative Societies too was not disputed by the parties. There is no dispute that Rule 25 of the said rules makes it clear that the employees of the employer society shall retire at 60 years of age.

(3.) SECTION 124 of the J&K Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 authorized the Government to make rules, including those pertaining to laying down service conditions of employees of Co -operative Societies. There is no dispute that on July 8, 1988, in exercise of powers conferred by section 124 of the J&K Co -operative Societies Act, 1960, which applied to all societies, the Government made the rules called the J&K Co -operative Societies Services Rules, 1988; while, however, doing so, in clause (o) of section 2 thereof provided that 'society means Co -operative District Wholesale -store Society / Co -operative Sale and Supply Society / Co -operative Multipurpose Societies / Co -operative Service Society registered under the Jammu and Kashmir Co -operative Societies Act, 1960, but did not include Co -operative Development Banks registered as co -operative societies under the said Act. However, in the note appended to Rule 24 of the said rules, which contained directions pertaining to service records, it was stated that the term 'other societies means Co -operative Societies, Co -operative Industrial Societies, Co -operative Banks and the like. The term 'other societies however, did not feature in Rule 24 of the said rules. The Division Bench referred to above, taking note of the said note as also applicability of the said rules to all societies, held that the said rules were also applicable in relation to Co -operative Development Banks registered under the said Act. Rule 13 of the said rules specifically mentions that the persons appointed to the service shall retire on attaining the age of 58 years or on the date the society in which he was initially appointed ceases to function. The object of the said rules was to make a cadre of the employees of all Co -operative Societies and to make them interchangeable by transfer and deputation. There is no dispute that the said object was not fulfilled and no attempt was made to fulfill the said object.