- (1.) Permission to file SLPs is granted.
(2.) It is, inter alia, argued by the learned counsel for the petitioners, appearing in these petitions, that three Judge Bench of this Court in Greater Bombay Coop. Bank Ltd. v. United Yarn Tex (P)Ltd. And Others (2007 (6) SCC 236) have held that cooperative societies constituted under State Cooperative Societies Acts or the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, are not 'Banking Companies' as defined under Section 5(c) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and therefore direction of the High Court in the impugned judgment asking the petitioners to seek licenses under Section 22 of the Banking Regulations Act, 1949, are clearly wrong and these societies cannot even be granted such a registration when they are not covered under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
(3.) In view of the submissions of the learned counsel including the aforesaid submissions specifically taken note of, though we are inclined to issue notice, at the same time we find that there is also a need to regulate the activities of the petitioners' societies appropriately having regard to the manner in which these societies are functioning, as demonstrated, in paras 7, 15 and 17 in particular, in the impugned judgment. It also needs to be considered as to whether the activities amount to 'banking business' and therefore these petitioners can undertake these activities at all or not and insofar as deposits from the members is concerned, in what manner they can be regulated to avoid any malpractices.;