O.P.Saxena, J. - (1.) By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution the petitioners have prayed for a writ of mandamus directing respondent No 1 to register the petitioners' Co-operative Society as an 'Apex Society' under the U. P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1965.
(2.) The petitioner No. 1 is Poorvanchal Hathkargha Sahakari Sangh Ltd Varanasi. The petitioner No. 2 is Shri Haseen Ahmad, Mukhya Pravartak of the Co-operative Society. On 13th May, 1981 the petitioners gave an application for registration of petitioner No. 1 as an 'apex society'. Annexure 1 is a copy of the resolution passed in this connection on 4th April, 1981. The petitioners were informed by the Deputy Registrar Industries (Handloom), Kanpur that the number of members be increased and the area of operation should be whole of Uttar Pradesh. Another meeting of the Society was held on 20th February, 1982 and the defects pointed out were removed. Annexure 2 is the copy of the proceedings. Resolution No. 3 provided for the extension of the activities of the petitioner No. 1 throughout the State of Uttar Pradesh. Another apex society known as U. P. Silk Weavers Co-operative Association was registered as an 'Apex Society' on 16th June, 1971. The object of petitioner No. 1, Co-operative Society, was similar to the object of the other 'apex society'. The petitioners' application for registration was rejected by the Deputy Registrar Industries (Handloom), Kanpur on the ground that there is a Government order on account of which it is not possible to register another 'apex society' for operation in the same area. Annexure 3 is the copy of the order.
(3.) The petitioners' case is that petitioner No. 1 is an apex society as defined in Section 2 (a-4) (10) of the U. P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1963, that the District Weavers Co-operative Society, Ghazipur, which is a central seciety and other primary societies are members of the petitioners' society, that the reason givea for refusal to register petitioner No. 1 is erroneous, that the respondents had already registered U. P. Handloom Fabrics Marketing Cooperative Federation Ltd. Pilikothi, Varanasi, that there was already U. P. Silk Weavers Co-operative Association, Varanasi, and if this reasoning was correct, the respondents could not register the U. P. Handloom Fabrics Marketing Co-operative Federation Ltd. that there is no such limitation prescribed under the law, and that the petitioner No. 1 has been wrongfully refused registration.;