Rongpur Cooperative Board Remains Restored as Gauhati HC Says Registrar Can Hear Appeal Against Delegated Officer’s Order

The appellants challenged the Registrar of Cooperative Societies’ order dated 10 July 2026, which set aside the Zonal Joint Registrar’s order dated 6 November 2023 and restored the Board of Directors of Rongpur Cooperative Society Ltd.

The earlier order followed the Society’s failure to hold an annual general meeting within the period prescribed by Section 39 of the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007 (“ACS Act”), and declared the Board dissolved; an Officer on Management was also appointed under Section 41(6).

The Society’s Chairman appealed under Section 111 of the ACS Act, and the Registrar allowed that appeal.

The appellants’ writ petition challenging the Registrar’s order was dismissed by the Single Judge, prompting this intra-court appeal.

Sections 3(2), 39, 41(6), and 111(1) and (3) of the ACS Act formed the statutory framework.

Section 39 governed the requirement to hold an annual general meeting; Section 41(6) was invoked for appointment of an Officer on Management; and Section 111 provided for appeals against orders under the Act.

The Court treated officers appointed under Section 3(2) as assisting the Registrar and exercising delegated powers, but held that this did not make every order of such an officer the Registrar’s own order for appellate purposes; that interpretation would render Section 111(1) nugatory.

The Court relied on *Chintapalli Agency Taluk Arrack Sales Co-operative Society Ltd. v. Secretary (Food and Agriculture), Government of A.P.*, AIR 1977 SC 2313, and *Sankar Ram and Co. v. Kasi Naicker*, AIR 2003 SC 4156, in rejecting an interpretation that would frustrate the statutory appeal provision.

The Court rejected the standing objection, finding no provision in the ACS Act that barred a Society member from challenging an action of the Cooperation Department merely because the member had not actively participated in the Society or served on its Board.

On the statutory appeal, it reasoned that treating the Zonal Joint Registrar’s order as the Registrar’s own merely because it was made under delegated authority would require appeals from all such orders to go to the State Government, undermining the appeal provided by Section 111(1).

It therefore agreed with the Single Judge that the order of the Zonal Joint Registrar was appealable to the Registrar under Section 111(1), and that the Registrar had jurisdiction to set it aside.

The intra-court appeal was dismissed, the parties were directed to bear their own costs, and the interim order restraining effect being given to any decision to constitute a new Board was vacated.