Supreme Court – Daily Orders
Shri Swami Samarth Sahakari Dudh … vs The State Of Maharashtra on 6 May, 2026
Author: Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
Bench: Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
ITEM NO.29 COURT NO.6 SECTION IX
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 16332/2026
[Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 30-04-2026
in WP No. 1507/2026 passed by the High Court of Judicature at
Bombay]
SHRI SWAMI SAMARTH SAHAKARI DUDH
VYAVSAYIK SANSTHA MARYADIT & ORS. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ORS. Respondent(s)
IA No. 138308/2026 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED
JUDGMENT
IA No. 138310/2026 – EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.
WITH
Diary No(s). 27083/2026 (IX)
IA No. 138269/2026 – EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED
JUDGMENT
IA No. 138270/2026 – EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.
IA No. 138266/2026 – PERMISSION TO FILE PETITION (SLP/TP/WP/..)
Date : 06-05-2026 These matters were called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE
For Petitioner(s) :Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Sagar Pahune Patil, AOR
Mr. Chetan Patil, Adv.
Ms. Devanshi Singh, Adv.
Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. S.s Patwardhan, Adv.
Mr. Anand Dilip Landge, AOR
Mr. Bhushan Mandlik, Adv.
Mr. Avishkar Singhvi, Adv.
Ms. Tanushka Agarwal, Adv.
For Respondent(s) :Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR
Digitally signed by
KAPIL TANDON
Date: 2026.05.07
Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv.
13:51:52 IST
Reason: Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv.
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Mr. Satish B Talekar, Adv.
Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, Adv.
Ms. Pradnya Talekar, Adv.
Ms. Madhavi Ayyappan, Adv.
Mr. Ajinkya Sanjay Kale, Adv.
Ms. Vishakha Patil, Adv.
Mr. Sudhanshu Kaushesh, Adv.
Mr. Anubhav Lamba, Adv.
Mr. Alok Abhinav, Adv.
Mr. Rajat Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Sudhanshu Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Shubham Singh, Adv.
Mr. Utkarsh Singh, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Veer, Adv.
Mr. Prerak Khurana, Adv.
Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR
For Caveators Mrs. Vibha Datta Makhija, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Omkar Jayant Deshpande, AOR
Ms. Nehaol Sri L.V., Adv.
Mr. Praveen Gaur, Adv.
Ms. Rohini Narayan, Adv.
Mr. Ashok Poulo Paul, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1. Permission to file Special Leave Petition is granted.
2. These Special Leave Petition are against the common judgment
and order dated 30.04.2026 passed by the High Court of Judicature
at Bombay (Circuit Bench at Kolhapur) in Writ Petition No. 1507 of
2026.
3. The prayer in the Writ Petition was for a direction to hold
elections to the Managing Committee of the Kolhapur Zilla Sahkari
Doodh Utpadak Sangh Ltd. (Sangh). The High Court disposed of the
Writ Petition(s) with the following directions:
“6. Thus, we direct the Assistant Registrar,
Co-operative Society (Dairy), Kolhapur, to
complete hearing and pass appropriate orders by
giving personal hearing to all such primary
dairy societies in accordance with law. Such
exercise be completed as expeditiously as
possible and in any case within 80 days as per2 of 6
the statement made on instructions by the
learned Additional Government Pleader.
7. After the above exercise is over, the
respondent No.4- State Co-operative Election
Authority to conduct the election of respondent
No.5- Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak
Sangha Ltd., in accordance with law.
8. Thus, the Writ Petition is disposed of in
above terms with no order as to costs. In view
of disposal of Writ Petition, nothing survives
in the interim applications and the same are
also disposed of.”
4. By the time the Special Leave Petition is taken up for
hearing, the order dated 04.05.2026 by the Office of the Regional
Dairy Development Officer under Section 77A and Section 73AAA(3) of
the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (for short, ‘the
Act’) was brought to our notice. The relevant portion of the order
constituting the Committee of Administrators for conducting the
election is as under:
“Whereas, if names are invited from the members
of the Sangh to be appointed as Authorized
Officers under the provisions of Section 77A of
the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act,
1960, it would not be justifiable in terms of a
fair election process, considering the upcoming
election process of the Sangh. Furthermore,
inviting names from the members would lead to a
waste of time in verifying eligibility under
Section 73CA of the Act. Therefore, as
immediate measures are extremely necessary,
appointing a Board of Authorized Officers from
among the members of the Sangh would not be
appropriate. Instead, appointing persons other
than the members of the Sangh as Authorized
Officers would be more beneficial, considering
the Sangh, its members, and the impending
election process.
Therefore, considering all the above facts, the
following order is being passed regarding the
appointment of an Authorized Officer as per the
provisions of Section 73AAA (3) and Section 773 of 6
(A) (1) (b) (Two) of the Maharashtra Co-
operative Societies Act, 1960, along with
Section 73AAA (3) (with Amendment Act 2026).
ORDER
Under the provisions and amendments of Section
73AAA(3) and the powers vested in me under
Section 77 (A)(1)(b)(two) of the Maharashtra
Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, 1, Rajkumar
Patil, Divisional Deputy Registrar, Co-
operative Societies (Dairy), Pune Division,
hereby pass this order.
The term of the Board of Directors of the
Kolhapur District Milk Producers Sangh Ltd.,
Kolhapur (Gokul) has expired, and as they
cannot continue in their positions, a vacuum
has been created in the management of the
Sangh. To fill this vacuum and to conduct the
day-to-day operations of the Sangh, the
following Board of Authorized Officers is
hereby appointed:
Sr. Name and Designation Position
No. in the
Board
1 Shri. Sanjaykumar Vishwanath Chairman
Sudrik, District Deputy
Registrar, Co-operative
Societies, Satara.
2 Shri. Pradip Mahavir Malgave, Member
Assistant Registrar, Co-
operative Societies, Chandgad,
Dist. Kolhapur.
3 Shri. Sunil Ramchandra Member
Dhaygude, Assistant Registrar,
Co-operative Societies, Mulshi,
Dist. Pune.
4 Shri. Sagar Balakwade, Auditor Member
Class-I, Co-operative Societies
(Panan), Kolhapur
5 Shri. Chandrakant Parulekar, Member
Section Officer, Charity
Hospital Section, District
Collector’s Office, KolhapurThe appointed Board of Authorized Officers is
bound to work under the general control of the
Authority. They shall not take any policy4 of 6
decisions independently without the prior
permission of this Authority.”
5. The order dated 04.05.2026 is passed under the provisions of
Section 73AAA(3) and in exercise of powers vested under Section
77(A)(1)(b) (two) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act,
1960 appointing Board of Authorized Officers. The admitted facts of
the case are that the term of the Sangh elected on 04.05.2021, came
to an end on 04.05.2026. In view of the fact that the term of the
Co-operative Society elected in 2021 has come to an end on
04.05.2026 that the above referred order came to be passed.
6. Neither the order dated 04.05.2026, nor the amendment to the
Act deleting the proviso to sub-clause 3 of Section 73AAA were
challenged either before the High Court or even before this Court.
In this view of the matter, we are not examining the grounds raised
by Mr. Mukul Rohatgi and Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, learned senior
counsels appearing for the petitioners. We are informed that the
petitioner(s) have today filed a writ petition under Article 32 of
the Constitution of India challenging the amendment as well as the
order dated 04.05.2026.
7. Having considered the matter in detail, we see no reason
whatsoever to entertain the Special Leave Petitions.
8. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, learned counsel for the State
submits that in furtherance of the observations of the High Court
in paragraph no. 6, extracted hereinabove, the State Co-operative
Election Authority will endeavour to hold the elections as
expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of ninety days
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from today.
9. With these observations and clarifications, the Special Leave
Petitions are dismissed.
10. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
Diary No. 27779/2026
11. The matter is taken on board.
12. Mr. Avishkar Singhvi, learned counsel appearing for the
petitioner seeks permission to withdraw the Writ Petition with
liberty to avail such alternative remedies as may be available to
them in law.
13. Permission, as sought for, is granted.
14. The Writ Petition is, accordingly, dismissed as withdrawn with
the aforesaid liberty.
(KAPIL TANDON) (NIDHI WASON)
COURT MASTER (SH) ASSISTANT REGISTRAR
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