Mr. Popat Garud And ORS v. The Hon'Ble Minister For Co-Operation And ORS
hcs
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPLICATION NO.2970 OF 2015 IN WRIT PETITION NO.1581 OF 2015 Mr. Popat Garud & Others .. Applicants.
Vs.
The Hon'ble Minister for Co-opertion, Mantralaya & Ors.
.. Respondents.
Mr. N.N. Bhadrashete i/b Pooja Bansi Vagal for the Applicants. Mrs. V.S. Nimbalkar AGP for the Respondent Nos.1 to 4. Mr. Shamrao Bhagwan Gore for the Respondent Nos.6 to 9. Ms. Sunitha Perumal i/b Mr. Sachin Vasant Masurkar for the Respondent No.10.
CORAM : A.K. MENON, J.
DATED : 30TH OCTOBER, 2015 P.C. :
1.
The present civil application is moved on behalf of the original petitioners seeking directions to the Administrator - respondent no.5 who was appointed as the Administrator by the order dated 23rd September, 2010. The application is moved seeking urgent orders directing the Administrator to pay charges owed by the Bombay Municipal Corporation and Reliance Energy in relation to electricity consumed, salary of watchman and lift maintenance contracts. It is the grievance of the petitioner that ever since the Administrator is appointed he has taken charge of the records of the society by forcibly
breaking open the locks of office of the society and since then the payments of those bills have not been effected.
2.
The learned AGP on instructions state that the Administrator has resigned on 18th February, 2015 but has not taken charge of the bank records. The Deputy Registrar has not taken any action in relation to the affairs of the society. Today, the learned AGP states that the Board of Administrator has been appointed and will take charge on 3rd November, 2015. However, these bills are pending for long time. Mr.Bhadrashete submits that immediate arrangement would have to be made by the respondents for payment of bills. He submits that the bank account of the society has sufficient funds to discharge the dues. Accordingly, the learned AGP upon taking instructions from respondent no.4 had made a statement that the board of Administrator consists of three persons.
She has tendered the letter dated 28th September, 2015 wherein the order appointing board specifies the names of Smt. Shradha Chavan, Shri Anand Mohale and Shri Deepak Kekane as the members of board. She states on instructions that the payments of bills will be authorised by Smt. Shradha Chavan who will sign and issue cheques from the bank account of the society. The custody of the cheque book, pass book and accounts shall be handed over by the applicants to Smt. Shradha Chavan on 4th November, 2015 at 11 am. 3.
It is surprising that although the Administrator is appointed as early as 24th September, 2010 he has chosen to resign on 18th February,
2015. It is alleged that he has failed to discharge his duties as the Administrator and this has caused serious vacuum in the affairs of society and it is expected that the board of Administrator shall set the record right. 4.
Civil application is disposed of accordingly. (A.K.MENON, J.)