HC strikes down amendment provisions in co-op society Act

Calcutta High Court today struck down the provisions for amendment in the West Bengal Cooperative Societies (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2013, by which the tenure of the board of directors of such societies was to be fixed at 36 months.
Justice Biswanath Somadder, passing the order on a writ petition challenging the amendment, directed that the provisions of the said Act were ultra vires of the constitution.
Striking down the provisions, he also refused the state Advocate General's prayer for a stay on the operation of the order.
The court, however, made it clear that the judgement shall have no effect in respect of those cooperative societies which willingly participated in the election of their respective boards after January 18, 2011.

"Since all cooperative societies are essentially democratic organisations, if their voluntary participation in the election process has resulted in duly-elected boards, the statutory tenure of those boards ought not to be disturbed," the court said.
Ashok Bandopadhyaya, who was elected chairman of the West Bengal Cooperative Bank Limited, had moved the writ petition challenging the introduction of certain new provisions into the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 2006, by way of amending the same.
The principal Act was amended by the West Bengal Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2011.