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TMI Blog1968 (12) TMI 102X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Secretary from holding the annual General Meeting. The Registrar referred the dispute for adjudication under s. 93 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, to H. V. Kulkarni, his nominee. The nominee decided the dispute on May 7, 1965 and held that Murkute and other applicants were members of the Bank. In the proceeding before the nominee certain documents including the minutes book of the Bank were produced. It is claimed by Murkute that those 'books were fabricated by the President and the Secretary with a view to make it appear that Murkute and other persons were never elected members of the Bank. On August 7, 1965, Murkute filed a complaint in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Nagpur, charging the President and Secretary of the Bank with committing offences under ss. 465 and 471 I.P. Code. It was alleged in the complaint that the two accused had dishonestly and fraudulently introduced a clause in Resolution No. 3 appearing in the minutes book with the intention of causing it to be believed that the clause was part of the original. Resolution passed by the Board of Directors in the meeting held on June 30, 1964, whereas it was known to them tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... minee or of some court to which he was subordinate. To determine whether the Registrar's nominee is a court, it is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, relating to the functions of the nominee and the powers with which he is invested, counsel for the appellants urges that by the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act the power of the Civil Court to entertain disputes with regard to certain matters concerning cooperative societies is expressly excluded from the jurisdiction of the Civil Court, and the Registrar or his nominee is alone competent to determine those questions; thereby the Registrar and his nominee are invested with the judicial power of the State and they are on that account "courts" within the meaning of s. 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 2(2) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, defines "arbitrator" as meaning "a person appointed under this Act to decide disputes referred to him by the Registrar and includes the Registrar's nominee or board of nominees." Section 91 and the following sections which occur in Ch. IX relate to disputes and arbitration ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... egistrar, his nominee or the board of nominees. It provides, insofar as it is material : "(1) The Registrar, or his nominee or board of nominees, hearing a dispute under the last preceding section shall hear the dispute in the manner prescribed, and shall have power to summon and enforce attendance of witnesses including the parties interested or any of them and to compel them to give evidence on oath, affirmation or affidavit and to compel the production of documents by the same means and as far as possible in the same manner, as is provided in the case of a Civil Court by the Code of Civil Procedure, -1908. (2) Except with the permission of the Registrar or his nominee or board of nominees, as the case may be, no party shall be represented at the hearing of a dispute by a legal practitioner." Sub-section (3) of S. 94 authorises the Registrar, his nominee or the board of nominees to join or substitute new parties. Section 95 authorises the Registrar or his nominee or board of nominees to pass an order of attachment and other interlocutory orders. Section 96 provides "When a dispute is referred to arbitration the Registrar or his nominee or board of nominees m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r's nominee and he is on that account made a "court" within the normal connotation of the term. Section 195(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure enacts that the term "court" includes a Civil, Revenue or Criminal Court, but does not include a Registrar or Sub-Registrar under the Indian Registration Act, 1877. The expression "court" is not restricted to courts, Civil, Revenue or Criminal; it includes other tribunals. The expression "court" is not defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Under s. 3 of the Indian Evidence Act "Court" is defined as including "all Judges and Magistrates, and all persons, except arbitrators, legally authorised to take evidence". But this definition is devised for the purpose of the Evidence Act and will riot necessarily apply to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The expression "Court of Justice" is defined in the Indian Penal Code by s. 20 as denoting "a Judge who is empowered by law to act judicially as a body, when such Judge or body of Judges is acting judicially". That again is not a definition of the expression "Court" as used in the Code of Criminal Procedure. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eferred by another body. Many bodies are not courts, although they have to decide questions, -and in so doing have to act judicially, in the sense that the proceedings must be conducted with fairness and impartiality, such as the former assessment committees, the former court of referees which was constituted under the Unemployment Insurance Acts, the blenchers of the Inns of Court when considering the conduct of one of their members, the Disciplinary Committee of the General Medical. Council when considering questions affecting the conduct of a medical man, a trade union when exercising disciplinary jurisdiction over its members, or the chief officer of a force exercising discipline over members of the force." A body required to act judicially in the sense that its proceedings must be conducted with fairness and impartiality may not therefore necessarily be regarded as a court. Counsel for the appellants however invited our -attention to a number of decisions in support of his contention that wherever there is a dispute which is required to be resolved by a body invested with power by statute and the body has to act judicially it must be regarded -as a court within the meani ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f s. 93 it is open to the Registrar to suspend proceedings in regard to any dispute, if the question at issue between -a society and a claimant or between different claimants, is one involving complicated questions of law or fact. The jurisdiction of the nominee or board of nominees arises by reason not of investment by statute, but by appointment made by the Registrar who exercises control over the proceeding. The nominee therefore derives his authority from his appointment by the Registrar : the Registrar is entitled to withdraw his authority; and the Registrar may fix the time within which a dispute shall be disposed of : his adjudication is again called an award. The nominee is even entitled to make a provision for the 'expenses payable to the Registrar or to himself. It is true that the procedure of the nominee is assimilated to the procedure followed in the trial of a Civil proceeding. The nominee has the power to summon witnesses, to compel them to produce documents and he is required to hear the dispute in the manner prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure. Thereby he is required to act judicially i.e. fairly and impartially : but the obligation to act judicially will not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntion of causing it to be believed that such document or part of a document was made, signed, sealed or executed by or by the authority of a person by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was -not made, signed, sealed or executed, or at a time at -which he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed or ,executed; or Secondly-Who, without lawful authority, dishonestly or fraudulently, by cancellation or otherwise, alters a, document in any material part thereof, after it -has been made or executed either by himself or by any other person, whether such person be living or dead at -the time of such alteration; or Thirdly Who dishonestly or fraudulently causes any person to sign, seal, execute or alter a document, -knowing that such person by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication cannot, or that by reason of deception practised upon him, he does not know the contents of the document or the nature of the alteration." Making of a false document by a person in all the three clauses must be done dishonestly or fraudulently and with the necessary intention or knowledge contemplated by the three clauses. Section 146 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, do ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ourt must consider the true meaning and effect, of the two Acts, and unless there is repugnancy or inconsistency between the two enactments or that the two enactments cannot stand together they must be treated as cumulative. It is clear from a perusal of s. 146 (p) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, and ss. 463 and 464 I.P. Code. that they are two distinct offences which are capable of being Committed with different intentions by different sets of persons and it, could not be contemplated that the Legislature of the State of Maharashtra intended to repeal pro tanto the provisions of S. 465 I.P. Code by enactment of s. 146 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act. It is unnecesary in the circumstances to consider the question whether the Maharashtra State Legislature was competent to repeal the provisions of s. 465 I.P. Code. The law relating to Co-operative Societies may be enacted in exercise of the power under List II Entry 32 of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, but if s. 146 is directly intended to trench upon a provision ,of the Indian Penal Code-falling within List 11 Entry 1, sanction of the President under Art. 254(2) would apparently be neces ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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