Department has made it clear that the power of election authority is only vested with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies and not delegated to any other subordinate officers. On a conjoint reading of the relevant provisions of the Act and Rules extracted above, the Court finds that it cannot be said that the power to adjudicate on the correctness or otherwise of the elections held in a cooperative society could be delegated to the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Silchar. The provisions of Rule 3(a), as extracted above, would not make the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies for a sub-divisional level societies as “election authority” within the meaning of Rule 2(f) of the Election Rules in the absence of any delegation of authority. No such order of the State Govt. in writing to delegate power of election authority to any such officer has been brought on record. Therefore, in the considered opinion of the Court, the act of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam to send the matter to the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Silchar through the Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies (G), Assam was not in accordance with law. Therefore, in the absence of vesting of any authority to the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Silchar to adjudicate election disputes, not only the act of transmitting the appeal filed by the petitioner to the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Silchar is not sustainable, but the impugned order under memo No. CCRF.9/73/Pt.III/444 dated 13.04.2023 is consequently sustainable.
