Hold elections in six months: HC

CUTTACK: The Odisha High Court on Wednesday ordered fresh elections to all the State-run cooperative societies. Upholding the amendment made to the Odisha Cooperative Societies Act, the court directed  the State Government to frame the rules within three months. A division bench of Justices BP Das and SK Mishra ordered elections to all cooperative bodies in six months. Till the new elected bodies are constituted, the HC order said, the old ones shall continue. This will automatically mean that the Government-nominated bodies will now stand quashed. By strength of an amended law of the Cooperative Societies Act, the Government had nominated executives to as many as 90 cooperative bodies in September this year. The HC order shall apply only to those bodies for which writ petitions were filed. The HC maintained that the provisions as amended were not ultra vires of the Constitution. The directives came in response to multiple writ petitions filed by Ranjita Kahali and others who were the elected directors of various cooperative banks. They had challenged the amendment to the election rules as well as the Government notification appointing the committee on various grounds. Earlier, the HC had reserved its verdict after hearing the parties in 24 writ petitions and verifying the records. The petitioners had stated that there was no election for a long time and pursuant to the direction of the court, the elections of the managing committees were held and the new bodies took charge. While the elected bodies were functioning, there was no necessity for the Government to take such a decision which was illegal and arbitrary. The petitioners had alleged that after the amendment, the Government nominated the committee members hurriedly. Indicating other circumstances, the petitioners had appealed to the court to quash the amendment as well as the notification appointing the new committees.