- (1.) In this writ petition the petitioner has challenged the notice Annexure-E to the writ petition issued by the Secretary, Nabayug Large Sized Co-operative Agricultural Credit Society Ltd. convening a special general meeting of the members of the said co-operative society for the purpose of holding election for the reconstitution of the board of directors of the society. The notice also contains the election programme. The petitioner is a member of the said co-operative society. The Secretary of the Co-operative society convened the special general meeting for holding the election of directors as he was directed by the Assistant Registrar of Co-operative Societies (ARCS) to do so. In view of Sections 2(37), 9 and 10 of the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 1983 an ARCS appointed to assist the Registrar and empowered to exercise his powers and duties, as permissible, also comes within the term 'Registrar'.
(2.) Petitioner has challenged the notice of the special general meeting convened for election of Directors of the Board, firstly on the ground that such election can be held only in an annual general meeting and not in any special general meeting, and secondly on the ground that the Registrar has no power to call a general meeting without the permission of the State Government where eighteen months have already elapsed after the date of the preceding meeting.
(3.) Now let us examine the validity of the above contentions. Section 25 of the W.B. Cooperative Societies Act, 1983 relates to annual general meeting. 7 It requires that at least once in every co-operative year there shall be a general meeting called the annual general meeting. The section also enumerates specific topics or subjects to be dealt with in such a meeting. Election (if any) of the directors of the board is one such subject. In view of Section 27(8) a director holds office for a period of three years. Thus while annual general meeting is required to be held at least once in a year, election of the directors of the board is ordinarily held once in three years. Again, while sub-section (1) of Section 25 requires annual general meeting to be held at least once in a year, sub-section (3) provides that if the board fails to call the general meeting within fifteen months of the commencement of a cooperative year, in that case the Registrar shall call a general meeting within three months from the date of expiry of the aforesaid fifteen months. Sub-section (4) provides that the State Government may, in special circumstances, permit the Registrar to call the general meeting even after the expiry of eighteen months from the date of the last preceding meeting. It is therefore contended by the learned Advocate for the petitioner that since in this case more than eighteen months have already elapsed from the date of the last annual general meeting, the Registrar can not call or cause to be called a general meeting now without the permission of the State Government which has not been obtained in this case. The learned Advocate for the petitioner however overlooked the position that the bar of sub-section (4) of Section 25 applies to a general meeting referred to in Section 25 which deals with annual general meeting and associated matters, but this bar has no application to any special general meeting convened under Section 26. It is also to be pointed out here that while the bar under sub-section (4) of Section 25 applies in appropriate cases against calling of general meeting by the Registrar, here in the present case the special general meeting has been called not by the Registrar but by the Secretary of the Co-operative Society, though under the direction of the Registrar. In any view of the matter the bar of sub-section (4) of Section 25 is therefore not applicable in this case.;