Telangana High Court directive to State govt on District Cooperative Marketing Society panel

Judge orders suspension of GO 75 issued by Agriculture and Cooperation Department as interim measure in the case

Hyderabad: Justice Kaja Sarath of the Telangana High Court has instructed the State government to either retain or appoint the previous Board of Directors/Managing Committee of the District Cooperative Marketing Society (DCMS) for the relevant former combined districts (excluding Khammam) as the interim Person-in-Charge Committee for DCMS in those districts.

Further, the judge ordered the suspension of the G O 75 of Agriculture and Cooperation Department dated Feb 14, as an interim measure in the case. The GO was issued by the Principal Secretary of the Agricultural Department appointing the District’s Additional Collector (Revenue) as Person-in-Charge Committee of the respective DCMSs for six months from the date of completion of the term of the outgoing Board or until further orders of the Government.

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The consequent orders issued by the Commissioner of Co-operation and Registrar of Societies appointing the Additional Collector (Revenue) as Person-in-Charge Committee of the respective districts were also suspended by the court.

Justice Sarath was hearing a batch of eight writ petitions filed by the outgoing committees of the erstwhile eight districts. The petitioners challenged the GO and the subsequent orders as illegal, seeking an extension of their term, which had expired on February 28, 2025. They requested to continue serving on the Person-in-Charge Committee.

The petitioners drew the court’s attention to the discrimination of the department authorities towards petitioners, highlighting the unequal treatment between the outgoing DCMS committees and the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), District Cooperative Central Banks (DCCBs), and Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank (TGCAB), whose terms also ended on February 28, 2025.

The petitioners argued that while the Principal Secretary had appointed the outgoing committees of DCCBs, PACS, and TGCAB as the Person-in-Charge Committees, the same benefit was unjustly and arbitrarily denied to the elected Board of Directors of the DCMS, without any justifiable distinction.

Furthermore, the petitioners pointed out that the membership of the DCMS includes PACS, yet the appointment of the DCMS Committees as Person-in-Charge was biasedly withheld.

Agreeing with the petitioners’ arguments, Justice Sarath issued interim orders, suspending the Government Order (GO) and the consequential orders.