Location/place: Lake Gardens, Kolkata-700045
Name of company/service: Gole Park Co-op. Hsg. Socy. Ltd, 49B Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens, Kolkata-700045.
In the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (Kolkata Unit:- )
At 8B, Neilie Sengupta Sarani, Kolkata- 700087.
Case No:- / 2012
Shri Himansu Kumar Patra, Complainant
S/o Late Netai Charan Patra,
Flat No:- 8-1-C1,
Gole Park Co-operaive Housing Society Ltd,
49B Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens,
Kolkata-700045.
Versus
1) Smt Sunanda Chatterjee, Ex-Chairperson, Opposite Party
W/o Late Mitash Chatterjee,
The erstwhile Board of Directors of
Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Ltd,
Flat No:- 11- 3-A/2,
49B Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens,
Kolkata-700045.
2) Shri Gautam Roy, Ex-Vice-Chairman, Opposite Party
S/o Late Prahald Roy,
The Erstwhile Board of Directors of
Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Ltd,
Flat No:- 2-4-A/1,
49B Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens,
Kolkata-700045
3) Shri Sriprakash Bhattacharya, Ex-Secretary, Opposite party
S/o Late Gurudas Bhattacharya,
The erstwhile Board of Directors of
Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Ltd,
Flat No:- 5- 4 –B/2,
49B Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens,
Kolkata-700045.
Before
The Hon’ble President and His companion Hon’ble Members,
D.C.D.R.F (Kolkata Unit:- ), floor,
8B, Neilie Sengupta Road,
Kolkata- 700 087.
In the matter of Consumer Disputes U/S
12 of C.P.A, 1986 (since amended)
AND
In the matter of: A complaint of the complainant ut Supra
Most respectfully sheweth:
1) That I, Shri Himansu Kumar Patra, S/o Late Netai Charan Patra, aged 71+ years, residing at flat No:- 8-1-C/1, Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, 49B, Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens, Kolkata-700045, P.S- Lake, by professional qualification a Fellow Member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, by faith Hindu, by occupation a retired West Bengal Government Service Holder, am the complainant of the present consumer case.
2) That I retired as Cost Accountant from service of West Bengal Govt. Press , Alipore, Kolkata-700027 under Commerce & Industries Department, writers’ Buildings, Kolkata-700001 w.e.f 31.01.2001(A.N) after working in responsible posts in Central Govt. organisations, such as Gun & Shell Factory, Cossipore; Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute Jadavpur; National Instruments Ltd, Jadavpur.
3) That I made an Initial deposit of Rs 30,000/= towards purchase of a flat from the said housing society of 264 members on 12.11.81. Deed of Conveyance was duly registered in joint names of mine and my wife Smt Kumkum Patra who is a retired bank employee..
4) That opposite party Nos:- 1 , 2 & 3 were the Chairperson, Vice-chairman and the Secretary of the erstwhile Board of Directors of Gole Park Co-op. Hsg. Socy. Ltd, 49B & 49C, Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens, Kolkata-700045 (Registration No:- 46/CAL of 1978) who expelled me and my wife from membership of the society on 30.11.2010 on the basis of impugned resolution dated 17.9.10.
5) That the opposite party No.1 Smt Sunanda Chatterjee, (co-opted on 15.6.10) on the basis of impugned resolution dated 17.9.10, issued order of expulsion under his signature expelling me and my wife Smt Kumkum Patra from membership of the society under society’s Memo No:- 150/GH/2010-2011 dated 30.11.2010 (Copy enclosed as annexure:- 1 ) for such acts which were termed as, according to their interpretation, acts prejudicial to the interest of the society and its members. But the charge that I committed acts prejudicial to the interest of the society and its members was never substantiated with any documentary evidence. Their allegation was part of a larger conspiracy to expel me from membership of the society which they actually did later on. So the allegation was concocted and mala fide.
6) That Opposite party Nos:-2 & 3 and three other Directors namely Shri Bhupendra Nath Brahma of Flat No:- 5-4-A/1, Shri Debashis Mitra of Flat No:- 6-G-B/2, Shri Gaur Chandra Ghosh of Flat No:- 15-1-A/2 filed illegal Dispute Case No:- 44/RCS of 2011 before the Ld. Registrar of Co-operative Societies, West Bengal on 28.10. 11 making me a party as defendant No:-4 on the plea that “neither any dispute case has been filed by the defendant No.4 nor an appeal had been preferred before the Government of West Bengal against the said order of expulsion, as such the order of expulsion of defendant No:-4 has reached to its finality and the defendant Nos:- 3 & 4 are no longer member of the said society”. But there was no truth in such averment in the plaint of the Dispute Case No:- 44/RCS of 2011 because appeal was duly preferred before the Government of West Bengal against the order of expulsion as per rule, the fact of which was quite known to the opposite parties. It is a false statement of fact submitted by the opposite parties.
7) That the opposite parties alleged in the plaint of the dispute case that I willfully deceived the Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society by submitting false declaration/ statement / documents to the State Bank of India, Lake Gardens Branch, Kolkata -700 045 due to which the Co-operative Housing Society had to suffer; such action of mine is not only prejudicial to the interest of the society but also against the interest of the members; such action of mine had injured the credit of the society.
The opposite parties however failed to submit any documentary evidence in strict proof of the said allegation. The allegation that I had injured the credit of the society was conjectural and unjustified apprehensions based inter alia on vague allegation.
8) That the Ld. Administrator Smt Banani Mondal, Jt Registrar of Coop. Societies,DTE(HQ), W.B, dismissed the said dispute case contending 1) that the erstwhile Board of Directors issued order of expulsion on flimsy grounds; 2) that the said Board of Directors did not follow the relevant proviso of Rule.133 of W.B.C.S Rule, 2011 meant for expulsion of member; 3) that the Registrar of Co-operative societies is the only authority to approve and disapprove any action in the matter of expulsion of a member of a co-operative society. BOD of any coop. society cannot take this decision.
While disposing off the said dispute case, the Ld. Arbitrator held that she does not find any substance in the argument of the plaintiff and the petition has no merit.
9) That, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the opposite parties have not yet preferred any appeal against the said order pronounced by the Ld. Arbitrator on 24.4.12. Copy of the said order along with subsequent amendment order dated 28th May,2012 is enclosed as annexure:- 2.
10) That I had never become defaulter in payment of service charges but immediately after expulsion, payment of my service charges sent by M.O on 20th Dec, 2010 was refused by the order of the opposite party No.3 Shri Bhattacharya, the fact of which was informed in writing to the Govt of West Bengal and other Govt. authorities vide my application dated 20th Jan, 2011(copy enclosed as annexure:-3). The Administrator after taking over charge of the society accepted payment of my arrear service charges on the basis of written instruction of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, West Benga.
The right of a member accrues and continues until and unless the order of expulsion gets official stamp of approval from the office of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, West Bengal as per rule.
11) That, though I submitted letter of appeal to the State Government within a fortnight from the date of communication of the order of expulsion as per rule, the expulsion order was enforced immediately after its issue curtailing my right of appeal conferred under Rule 137(2) of W.B.C.S Rules, 1987 which provides that the member so expelled shall have a right to appeal to the State Government for which purpose he shall submit a written representation to the state Government within a fortnight from the date of communication of the order of expulsion. Payment of my service charge sent by M.O on 20th Dec, 2010 and subsequently by cheque dated 24.6.11 was refused and returned to me on the verbal instruction of the opposite party No.2.
12) That an accused is presumed to be innocent in Indian Jurisprudence till he is proved to be guilty. But “expelled member” slur was put on me and my wife immediately after issue of expulsion order dated 30. 11.10, thus negating the central premise of our judicial system.
13) That there was no stigma in my name in the records of the said society. The secretary of the erstwhile Board (the opposite party No.3) Sri Sriprakash Bhattacharyya had himself candidly acknowledged my contribution to the society by quoting my name at page.2 of his printed report circulated to the members in the AGM held on 6.9.09. Similarly the Secretary of the Present Board Sri Chandan Kumar Dutta acknowledged my contribution by reference of my name at page.12 of his printed report circulated to the members in the AGM held on 24th June, 2012. In the same page of the same report, my name has been quoted as “Convener of Finance Committee” thus reposing faith in me. I worked as Auditor of Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Puja Committee for two consecutive years of 2010 and 2011 respectively during the period of my expulsion. It is after pronouncement of the award by the Ld. Administrator in the said dispute case, I have been co-opted as the Vice-chairman in the Board of the housing society in the Board meeting held on 8.5.12 vide Notice dated 15.5.12 circulated to the members (copy enclosed as annexure:-4). I could have directly come to the Board had there been no dispute case against me. So the whole thing vindicates the vindictive attitude of the opposite parties to harass and humiliate me.
14) That the pangs of harassment and humiliation began with issue of “Show-cause” notices for expulsion on 22.1.10, 16.2.10, 19.2.10, 19.3.10, 7.5.10 respectively and culminated with the order on 30.11.10 expelling me and my wife from membership and filing Dispute Case No.44/RCS of 2011 on 18.10.11 against me as defendant no.4 which continued till the date of disposal of the dispute case on 24.4.12, thus causing harassment and untold mental sufferings to me and my wife and the family for more than two years from 22.1.10 to 24.4. 12.
15) That the opposite party No.3 Sri Sriprakash Bhattacharyya , the then Secretary of the erstwhile Board, out of vengeance and by gross abuse of power, issued us “Show-Cause Notice” for expulsion on 22.1.10 under his signature, without enclosing copy of Board’s resolution in this regard though he was a mere communicator of Board’s decision.
16) That I was subjected to endless harassment and humiliation by being falsely implicated in Criminal Case being M.P.Case No. 1936/10 filed in the court of Ld. Executive Magistrate, 1st Court, Alipore, District: South 24 Parganas. I got a summon dated 30.9.10 with the direction to appear in person before the Ld. Executive Magistrate on 01.11.10 (copy of summon enclosed as annexure:-5). The summon was served by Lake P.S just 30 minutes before the start of the Annual General Meeting held on 3rd October,2010. The case was however disposed of due to adverse police report against the petitioner being Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Ltd (copy of police report enclosed as annexure:- 6)
17) That expulsion of my wife was grossly illegal and at the same time most damaging to her being an employee of State Bank of India because 1) unlike me, there was no mention of her name for expulsion in any proceeding of the Board meetings. 2) No show-cause notice was issued to her for acts prejudicial to the interest of the society and its members. 3) No copy of the Board’s resolution approving her expulsion from membership was enclosed along with the order of expulsion. 5) By manipulating her expulsion and putting “Expelled Member” tag on her, the opposite party No:-1 & 3, without any discussion in the Board meeting, conveyed the wrong and negative message of our expulsion to all branches of S.B.I through the Branch Manager, Lake Gardens Branch; to all branches of U.B.I through the Branch Manager, Lake Gardens Branch; to all branches of Syndicate Bank through the Branch Manager, Lake Gardens Branch; to all branches of west Bengal State Co-operative Bank through the Branch Manager, Bhowanipore Branch vide letters dated 6.12.2010 issued to each individual bank manager six days after issue of expulsion order dated 30.11.10 requesting them not to accept deposits to the credit of the society from us. They wanted their order of expulsion to prevail without getting any confirmation about order of expulsion from the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, West Bengal. Copies of four such letters dated 6.12.10 are collectively marked and enclosed as annexure:-7 .
18) That the erstwhile Board represented by the opposite party Nos.1, 2, 3 and other three directors was learnt to have committed acts prejudicial to the interest of the society and its members by submitting en masse resignation and causing serious deadlock in the running of the society as per item No(IV) in Govt. Notification dated 15.7.2011 and was dissolved by the Govt. vide their Co-operation Department Notification No:- 1683-coop/A/3P-07/09 dated 15th July,2011 (copy enclosed as annexure:-8) due to various gross irregularities including filing of criminal cases against the members resulting in huge expenses to the society and issuing order of expulsion to the members on flimsy grounds as per item Nos(VII) & (VIII) of Govt. Notification dated 15.7.11 , to which I had been subjected to and badly harassed and affected.
19) That the Administrator was appointed by the Govt. vide the said Notification No:- 1683-coop/A/3P-07/09 dated 15th July,2011 to reconstitute the Board and on 21.9.2011 the Administrator published Draft Voters’ list with my name appearing at Sr. No. 149 of the list of 264 members of the society for the purpose of election.
20) That on 22.9.2011 the opposite party No. 2 & 3 raised objection for inclusion of my name in the voters’ list and on 18.10.11 Dispute Case No. 44/RCS of 2011 was filed before the Ld. Registrar of Co-operative Societies, West Bengal making me a party as Defendant No:- 4.
21) That the Hon’ble Arbitrator Smt Banani Mondal dismissed Dispute Case No:- 44/RCS of 2011(copy enclosed as annexure:- 9) with the observation that that the petition has no merit . She observed that my expulsion along with my wife was made on flimsy grounds and the Board of Directors did not follow the relevant proviso of Rule 133 of W.B.C.S Rules, 2011 meant for expulsion of member and does not carry the legal seal of approval by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, West Bengal and hence, the expulsion order is illegal in the eye of law.
22) That, though expulsion imposed on me was not approved by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies and unlawful, the opposite party No.3 used to demean me by affixing the epithet “then member” after my name in official letters and notices circulated to the members.
23) That, the Secretary of the Board Sri Bhattacharyya, tried to demean and insult me in a meeting of an enquiry conducted by the Co-operative Development officer by questioning my locus standi to remain present there.
24) That the then Secretary of the erstwhile Board tried to demoralize me by using offensive words such as “action of criminal nature, willful deceiving, blatant lie ” etc in his Show-cause notices issued by him.
25) That the instant case is filed bonafide and for the ends of justice .
That the total matter is not only a question of monetary loss but also hampers the prestige of a person and shatters the mental peace and tranquility .
That your humble petitioner suffered inexplicable mental agony and underwent many sufferings for
the callous and lackadaisical attitude on the part of the opposite parties.
That under backdrop of such a history of prolonged harassment and mental agony your humble petitioner is compelled to come before the Hon’ble Forum and initiated this consumer case.
That the cause of action arose on 22.2.10 and thenceforward day to day (PER DIEM).
That the case may be valued at Rs10,00,00/= being 5,00,000/= each for me and my wife and S.B.I Bank Draft of Rs …………………. Vide No:- dated ……………. Is attached herewith as the requisite fee.
That the actions and inactions on the part of opposite parties as detailed in ut supra comes under deficiency of service U/S 2(1)(g) of C.P.A, 1986(since amended) and also attracts of the provisions of …………………
That the jurisdiction of the consumer dispute lies in this forum and your humble petitioner prays for the following directions upon the opposite parties.
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To pass such order or orders as the Hon’ble Forum may deem fit for ends of justice.
And for this act of kindness your humble petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray.
List of documents attached:-
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I hereby undertake to produce the original copies of the documents at the time of hearing.
Verification
I, Sri Himansu Kumar Patra, S/o Late Netai Charan Patra, residing at Flat No:- 8/1/C1, Gole Park Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, 49B Gobindapur Road, Lake Gardens, Kolkata- 700045, by faith Hindu, by occupation retired and the complainant of the present consumer case do hereby declare and affirm that the statements ut supra are all trus to the best of my knowledge and belief and I have concealed nothing material and I sign this verification this day the ,2012.
(Himasnu Kumar Patra)
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