BALAKRISHNA, J. ( 1 ) THIS writ petition coming up for orders today, by consent of the Counsel for all the parties, arguments were heard. ( 2 ) THIS is a writ petition filed under article 226 for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing respondents 1 to 3 to give effect to the provisions of Sec. 28-A of the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959. providing reservation for the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and for women in the proposed election to the Managing Committee of the third respondent society. ( 3 ) THE facts of the case, in brief, are as follows : The petitioner is a share- holder of the third respondent-Society and the society consists of Managing committee of 12 members. The State government incorporated Sec. 28-A by an amendment Act called Karnataka Co- operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 1984, into the Act and the same provides for reseivation of seats for the Scheduled- castes, Scheduled Tribes and for women. The second respondent who is the Assistant commissioner of Bangalore District was appointed as a Returning Officer for the purpose of conducting the elections to the Managing Committee of the third respondent-society and a calendar of events was published on 13-12-1986 for holding the elections, According to the calendar of events, the nomination was to be submitted on or before 18-1-1987. Along with the calendar of events, instructions to the shareholders were also published. However, the grievance of the petitioner is that the calendar of events did not disclose or notify any reservation of seats to the members belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes and also for women. The calendar of events is Annexure-A. Thereafter the petitioner and others interested submitted a memorandum to the second respondent informing him that the calendar of events was defective since it did not contain the particulars regarding number of members to be elected to the Managing Committee and also it was silent on the reservation of seats to members belonging to scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women. The copy of the representation is Annexure-B. It is further stated that the petitioner represented to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, who is the first respondent herein, informing him that he should take action for complying with the requirements of Section 28a of the Cooperative Societies Act and the Registrar did not take any action. The copy of the representation is Annexure-B. It is further stated that the petitioner represented to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, who is the first respondent herein, informing him that he should take action for complying with the requirements of Section 28a of the Cooperative Societies Act and the Registrar did not take any action. ( 4 ) AN endorsement dated 20-1-1987 was issued by the second respondent informing the petitioner that it is not necessary to set out the number of members to be elected to the Board of Directors. He also informed that according to the bye-laws of the Society, there was no provision for reserving seats for members belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes and also for women. It is the case of the petitioner that ihere is non-compliance with the statutory requirement of section 28-A of the Co-operative Societies Act and hence he has requested for issue of a writ of mandamus. ( 5 ) IT is not necessary for me to go into the merits of the case after perusing the statement of objections filed by res- pondent-3, who is the Mysore Powerloom silk Manufacturers Co-operative Society limited, Bangalore, represented by its vice-President. ( 6 ) IN the statement of objections filed by respondent 3, vide para 4, it is stated that in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the Act and the Rules made thereunder, amendment to bye-law no. 35 of the Society was approved at the General Body Meeting of the Society at the meeting held on 19-11-1984 and that the Society forwarded the said resolution amending the bye-law to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies for registration under cover of their letter dated 16-1-1985 routed through the Joint Director of Industries and Commerce and Ex- officio Joint Registrar of Industrial Cooperative. It is further stated that along with the said letter, the Society also enclosed all the required forms duly filled in and signed. A copy of the letter is filed as Annexure-l. Thereafter as required by the Registrar of Co-operative societies in Karnataka, the third respondent-Society sent a copy of the bye-laws under cover of their letter dated 8-3-1985. The copy of which is at Annexure-ll. A copy of the letter is filed as Annexure-l. Thereafter as required by the Registrar of Co-operative societies in Karnataka, the third respondent-Society sent a copy of the bye-laws under cover of their letter dated 8-3-1985. The copy of which is at Annexure-ll. Even though these documents have been received by the concerned authority and despite two reminders of the third respondent-Society dated 3-8-1985 and 3-9-1985, copies of which are Annexures iii and IV, the Registrar of Co-eperative societies has not so far approved the bye-laws and registered them as amendments to the existing bye-laws. It is under these circumstances these amended bye-laws have not come into force. It is these amended bye-laws which make provision for due representation of the members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes as also women. It is therefore submitted by respondent-3 that all that could be done by the Society has been done and the Society is awaiting intimation from the Registrar for having approved the amendments. In fact, respondent-3 has stated in his statement of objections that the Society has no objection for making necessary reservation as contemplated under Section 28-A of the act. But it has to be done only in accordance with the law and until the amended bye laws are approved by the Registrar, the Society is helpless. ( 7 ) IT is very strange that a responsible authority as Registrar of Co-operative societies has slept over the matter for over two years without communicating to the third respondent Society whether the amended bye laws have been approved or not. In either case, it is the statutory duty of the Registrar of Co-operative societies to take a decision within a reasonable time. It has to be observed that the inaction on the part of the registrar is a matter to be viewed seriously in view of the fact that the election of the Managing Committee of the Society is held up since a long time. Officials who are expected to discharge duties in their capacity as public officials are accountable for negligence and dereliction of duty even where there is no positive act of malfeasance or misfeasance. Even non-feasance also amounts to breach of duty. ( 8 ) IT is difficult to say that the third respondent has failed to comply with the requirement of law. Even non-feasance also amounts to breach of duty. ( 8 ) IT is difficult to say that the third respondent has failed to comply with the requirement of law. But on the other hand, it has taken bona fide steps to make necessary provision under the byelaws for the purpose of giving adequate representation to members of Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and women. However, in the circumstances of the case, the election has not been possible only on account of the fact that the registrar of Co-operative Societies has not approved the amendments to bye-laws of the society. ( 9 ) THE first respondent was served with notice of the writ petition as far back as January, 1987 and no arrangement has been made by him to be represented before this Court in this case. It was also brought to my notice by the learned Counsel for the third respondent that these amended bye-laws approved by the General Body were sent to the registrar of Co-operative Societies even before the writ petition was filed before this Court. I have been repeatedly coming across instances of bureaucratic intransigence and callousness reminding me of the outdated Victorian style of administration and persistent mal administrative culture which is totally out of tune with the rule of law. Justice William Douglas cf the Supreme Court of America was prompted to observe:"the bureaucracy of the modern government is not only slow, lumbering and oppressive (but also) it is omnipresent. Today's mounting bureaucracy both at the state and Federal levels promises to be suffocating and repressive unless it is put into the harness of procedural due process. . . . The sovereign of this nation is the people and not the bureaucracy. "the white-collar brings to my mind the caustic remarks of Machajski in his "bourgeois Revolution and the Workers' cause":"there exists a huge class of people who have neither industrial nor commercial capital and yet live like real masters. They own neither land nor factories nor workshops but they enjoy a robber's income no smaller than that of the meddling and large capitalists. They do not have their own enterprises but they are white hands just like the meddling and large capitalists. . . . "in the citizen's mind, administrators and administrative agencies in public administration are closely associated with arbitrariness, chronic corruption, inefficiency, lack of accountability and bureaucratic vagaries. They do not have their own enterprises but they are white hands just like the meddling and large capitalists. . . . "in the citizen's mind, administrators and administrative agencies in public administration are closely associated with arbitrariness, chronic corruption, inefficiency, lack of accountability and bureaucratic vagaries. The instant case strengthens such public belief in a sense. One of the new perspectives is that the judiciary ought to step in as a Senior partner in public administration to fill the breach so as to fulfill the role of breaking bureaucratic resistance and to enforce accountability to the people in the areas where the Executive has failed to combat the beneful administrative cult which has eroded the values of good public administration. The comments of James D. Carroll are worth reproducing :"in the last decade (1970s) several thousand damage suits have been filed by Americans against hundreds of state and local government officials. The face amount of the damages claimed adds up to billions of dollars. In over, half of the states, one or more institutions, prisons, mental institutions, institutions for theretarded and juvenile homes heve been declared unconstitutional as structured and administered. Many state and local government officials have found themselves subject to demands that they be held personally liable in money damages to individuals and organisations claiming that they have been harmed by the actions of these officials. "the latest trends in the contemporary institutions which indicate that the judiciary has a new role to play as a senior partner in public administration in response to the needs of the modern, conceptual, administrative state should not go unnoticed. The infliction of costs by the courts on the errant officials is one of the modes of instilling the sense of accountability in their minds. ( 10 ) IN the above circumstances, I allow this writ petition and issue a direction to the first respondent who is the registrar of Co-operative Societies in karnataka, Bangalore, to take immediate action to consider the bye-laws approved by the General Body of the third respondent-Society communicated to him vide annexure-1 and accord approval in consonance with law and intimate the same to the third respondent-society without further loss of time within 30 days, from the date of receipt of this order. ( 11 ) THE first respondent is directed to pay Rs. 1,000. 00 to the petitioner towards costs of the writ petition. ( 11 ) THE first respondent is directed to pay Rs. 1,000. 00 to the petitioner towards costs of the writ petition. The costs have been levied in view of the fact that the first respondent has not discharged the duty imposed by law. --- *** --- .