- (1.)THE 1st petitioner herein is a member of the 4th respondent Co-operative society; whereas the petitioners 2 to 8 are its employees. In the election held on 14. 2. 2003 one Jana Nagamallaiah was elected as President of the society. On the basis of a complaint made by the said president, the 2nd respondent ordered statutory enquiry under Section 51 of the a. P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 (for short, "the Act") into the constitution, working and financial position of the 4th respondent society for the period from 1995-96 to February, 2003. Pursuant thereto, an enquiry was conducted and a report dated 14. 5. 2004 was submitted stating that the 1st petitioner herein who was the ex-President of the society with the help of the staff of the society misappropriated amounts in two exhibition sales. Basing on the said report, the 2nd respondent directed the 3rd respondent to take civil and criminal action against the concerned under the provisions of the Act.
(2.)ACCORDINGLY, the 3rd respondent commenced surcharge proceedings under section 60 of the Act and issued notice dated 17. 6. 2005 to all the petitioners herein calling upon them to show-cause as to why a sum of Rs. 6,87,186/- should not be recovered from them. The petitioners submitted their explanation and during enquiry, the Enquiry Officer, who conducted the enquiry under Section 51 of the Act and submitted his report dated 14. 5. 2004, gave evidence as P. W. I on behalf of the authorities.
(3.)AT that stage, the petitioners herein made a representation dated 1. 4. 2007 to the 2nd respondent requesting to appoint an officer higher in rank to P. W. I to conduct the enquiry under Section 60 (1) of the Act. Alleging that the said request of the petitioners was not considered, the petitioners earlier filed W. P. No. 15968 of 2007. The said writ petition was disposed of at the stage of admission by order dated 31. 7. 2007 with a direction to the 2nd respondent to pass appropriate orders on the representation of the petitioners, dated 1. 4. 2007 within a period of four weeks. In the meanwhile, though the enquiry was allowed to be proceeded by the 3rd respondent, this court ordered that no final orders shall be passed.