HP Co-Operative Societies Rules | Mere Passing Of Election Resolution Not Equivalent To Initiation Of Electoral Process: High Court

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that, as per Rule 38 of the HP Co-operative Societies Rules, 1971, the outgoing managing committee of the society is bound to initiate the election process at least 90 days prior to completion of its tenure.The Court clarified that merely passing a resolution does not amount to the initiation of the election process. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel remarked that: “Passing of this resolution 90 days before expiry of terms of the outgoing Managing Committee, by no stretch of imagination, can be said to be initiation of election process”The petitioner, a founder member and elected president of the Sai Cooperative Non-Agricultural Thrift and Credit Society Limited, filed a writ petition before the high court. He challenged the order which declared the election held for the constitution of the Managing Committee of the Society Limited invalid. The Authority found that the Managing Committee had violated Rule 38(3) of the HP Co-operative Societies Rules, 1971 and had not initiated the election process 90 days prior to the expiry of the term of the previous committee. The petition contended that the order was not sustainable in the eyes of the law as the earlier managing committee had set the process in motion within time, and a resolution was initiated.He further submitted that many cooperative societies across the State do not strictly follow the rule, and even the previous election was conducted in the same manner. Examining Rules 37 and 38 of the HP Co-operative Societies Rules, the Court clarified that the outgoing managing committee must initiate the election process strictly as per the rules. However, the Court observed that the same was not done by society in this case. The court noted that the petitioner himself admitted that they did not adhere with the compliance and so the decision of the authority that the election process was not initiated before the expiry term are correct. Hence, the Court dismissed the writ petition and held that just because other cooperative societies were not following the rules, that does not mean that non-compliance by the petitioner society was to be condoned by the Authority. It concluded that the elections were held based on an illegal process and the authority was right in setting aside the elections. Case Name: Raj Kumar & another V/s State of H.P. & Ors. Case No.: CWP No. 11224 of 2025Date of Decision: 27.08.2025For the Petitioner: Mr. Sudhir Thakur, Senior Advocate with Mr. Somesh Sharma, AdvocateFor the Respondents: Mr. Pushpender Jaswal, Additional Advocate General. Mr. Gaurav Chauhan, Joint Registrar and Surender Singh Mania, DI/DAO, from the HP Cooperative Societies are present in person.Click Here To Read/Download Order

HP Co-Operative Societies Rules | Mere Passing Of Election Resolution Not Equivalent To Initiation Of Electoral Process: High Court

Mehak Aggarwal

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