- (1.) The petitioners in this WP under art.226 dated January 11, 2012 are questioning the validity of two certificates both dated January 27,2010 (at pp. 89 and 91) issued by the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies & Certificate-officer, Birbhum under ss. 4 and 6 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913.
(2.) Mr. Mukherjee appearing for the petitioners has submitted that the petitioners are questioning the certificates on the grounds that the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies had no jurisdiction, authority or power to issue the certificates that are speculative.
(3.) The only point for decision is whether the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, issuing the two certificates of public demand, was empowered to issue them. Mr. De appearing for the State has submitted that in view of the order of the Collector, Birbhum dated October 1976 (at p.131) and the definition of the expression " Certificate-officer" in s.3 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913, there is no reason to say that the Assistant Registrar did not have any authority to issue the two certificates.;