REGISTRAR OF CO OPERATIVE SOCIETIES Vs. TAMIL NADU CONSUMER PROTECTION COUNCIL TRICHY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE only question which requires consideration in these Revision Petitions is whether the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies and the Special Officer, appointed under Section 88 of the Co-operative Societies Act, after supersession of Management Board of the Society, Tiruchirapalli Consumer Co-operative Wholesale Ltd., Trichy, would be jointly and severally liable for non-refund of deposits by the Society?

(2.) IN our view, the Registrar of the Cooperative Societies and the Special Officer are discharging their duties under statutory provisions unconnected with any contract of accepting deposit from the Complainants by the Cooperative Society. They cannot be held personally liable for non-refund of deposits by the Cooperative society on the ground that the society was suffering from financial crunch or for various other reasons including mal-administration of the society. The Registrar of the Cooperative Societies under the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act is not providing any service or facility as contemplated under the Consumer Protection Act, but is exercising statutory, administrative, supervisory control and is discharging quasi judicial functions as provided in the said Act.

(3.) THE TCCWS and the CSM come under the purview of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983. By the application of the said Act, they come under the effective control and supervision of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies and the Government of Tamil Nadu represented by the Secretary to Government, Co-operative Department under the relevant provisions thereto. The TCCWS, it appears, on the instructions issued by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, received short term and long terms deposits from its members agreeing to pay interest at a specified rate, obviously requiring such fluid cash resources or commercial transaction it had entered into in its sphere of its activities. The receipt of deposits from its members for the first time took place during the year 1997. As a matter of fact, there were a few deposits in the year 1997 as well as in 1998. Thereafter, the deposits collected from the members increased by leaps and bounds between the period 1999 and 2000. For the deposits so collected, the varying rates of interest were agreed to be paid such as 4.75%, 5%, 7%, 8%, 11%, 12%, 13.5%, 14% and 15% per annum.