R. K. VERMA, J. ( 1 ) THIS is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India filed by 56 petitioners, out of whom 48 are residents of Pachore aad the rest are residents of villages within the radius of ten miles from Pachore, for quashing the order passed by the respondent Assistant Registrar, Cooperative societies, Rajgarh (Biaora) on 6-2-1988, whereby they have been declared to be ineligible or disqualified members of Pachore Sahakari vipanan Samiti Maryadit, a Marketing Co-operative Society which was originally registered on 18-2-1957. ( 2 ) THE material facts giving rise to this petition, briefly stated, are as follows : the Pachore Sahakari Yipnan Samiti Maryadit (hereinafter referred to as 'pachore Society') was registered as a Co-operative Society on 18-2-1957 for the objects mentioned in the bye-laws, having its area of operation as the area included within ten miles radius of Pachore. The petitioners were inducted as members of the said Society and their names continued to be on the list of members of the Society. The copy of the list of members published by the Society as on 30-6-1987, Annexure II to the petition, includes the mines of all the members as existing members ( 3 ) ON 20-11-1987, the respondent-Assistant Registrar issued a common show-cause notice as per Annexure-III, informing the petitioners that their residence being not within the area of operation of the Pachore Society, they are not entitled to remain members of that Society and requiring them to show-cause why they should not be declared ineligible/disqualified as members of the said Society. The petitioners submitted their reply as per annexure-IV to the show-cause notice, stating that the petitioners Nos. 1 to 48 are residents of Pachore and the Petitioners Nos. 49 to 56 are residents of such villages which fall within the radius of ten miles from Pachore and that they were inducted as members of the Society right from the time of formation of Pachore Society in the year 1957 and thereafter on dates as mentioned in the list of members of the Society and that the registered office of the Society is also in Pachore from where there have been three previous presidents of the Society. However, the cause shown by the petitioners against the show-cause notice did not satisfy the respondent Assistant registrar, who by order dated 6-2-1988 declared the petitioners ineligible/disqualified as members of the said Society in purported exercise of the posers under Section 8 of the M. P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act')- As a result of such declaration the petitioners are being treated as non-members. The petitioners have annexed to the petition a few of such orders as Annexures-V to XIII. ( 4 ) THE case of the respondent, according to the Return filed in answer to the petition, is that in the registered bye-laws of Pachore Society as subsequently amended on 16-7-1963, the area of operation of the Society was extended to area covered by a radius of 12 miles from Pachore. It has been stated in. the Return that the petitioners who entered in the Society before amendment of bye-laws on 16-7-1963 and 28-3-1967 became ineligible and disqualified as a result of amendment. It has been further stated that by the said amendments on 16-7-1963 and on 28-3-1967 in the bye-laws of the Pachore Society, the area of operation of Pachore has been extended and confined to villages of Parganas Sarangpur, Narsinghgarh and Rajgarh as per Annexures R-2 and R-3 filed with the Return. It is also stated in the return that Pachore is also not named in the area of operation of Pachore society. As such, in purported exercise of the powers under Section 8 of the Act, the respondent-Assistant Registrar has declared the petitioners ineligible/disqualified as members of the Pachore Society. ( 5 ) LEARNED counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the petitioners made averments in paras 10 and 11 of the petition showing that the petitioners were either residents of Pachore or within the radius of ten miles from Pachore and there is no specific denial of the same in the Return of the respondent. He has also submitted that the area of ten miles radius from Pachore necessarily includes Pachore where the Society has its Head 'quarters arid it would be a perverse inference from the reading of the bye-laws that Pachore is excluded from the area of Pachore Society. He has also submitted that the area of ten miles radius from Pachore necessarily includes Pachore where the Society has its Head 'quarters arid it would be a perverse inference from the reading of the bye-laws that Pachore is excluded from the area of Pachore Society. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submitted that the respondent had no power under Section 8 of the Act to declare the petitioners as non-members either on the ground of ineligibility or disqualification. The ground of disqualification is provided in Section 19-A of the Act which provides as under:"19-A. A disqualification of member. No person shall be eligible for admission as member of a Society if (a) He is an applicant to be adjudicated or is an undischarged insolvent ; (b) He has been sentenced for an offence involving moral turpitude and period of five years has not elapsed from the date of expiry of sentence ; (c) He or any member of his family, having common interest with him carries on business similar to one carried on by the society ;"provided ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** the effect of subsequent disability is provided in Section 19-B of the Act which is as under :"19-B. Effect of subsequent disabilities, If any person having been admitted as a member of a Society subsequently becomes subject to any of the disqualification as specified in Section 19-A such person shall cease to be a member of the Society and the Registrar shall declare his seat to be vacant. "'section 19-C provides for expulsion of members and reads as follows :"19-C. Expulsion of members. (1) The Committee may hy a resolution passed by three-fourth majority of the members 'present and voting at a meeting held for the purposes, expel a member if he (a) intentionally does any act likely to injure the credit of the society or bring it to disrepute ; or (b) wilfully deceives the Society by false statement ; or (c) carries on any business which comes or likely to come into conflict with the business carried on by the Society ; or (d) persistently makes default in payment of his dues or fails to comply with any provisions of the bye-laws. Provided that no such resolution shall be valid unless the. Provided that no such resolution shall be valid unless the. members concerned has been given seven days' notice, either personally or by registered post, of the proposal to expel him, and has been given an opportunity to represent his case the Committee (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Act or rules or bye-laws made thereunder where it appears to the Registrar to be necessary or desirable in the interest of the Society to expel a member from the Society, he may call upon such member and the society, to explain within a period to be specified by him why such member should not be expelled from the Society. If the member or Society fails to furnish his or its explanation within the time specified or after considering the explanation if received, the Registrar may pass an order expelling a member from the Society. (3) No member of a Society, who has been expelled under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall be eligible for re-admission as a member of the Society up to a maximum period of five years from the date of such expulsion. "it is the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that apart from the provisions of Section 19-A, 19-B, and 19-C, there is no other mode of terminating membership of an existing member of the Society. ( 6 ) SECTION 8 of the Act empowers the Registrar to decide certain questions including a question, which arises in connection with the admission of a person as member of the Society, whether he resides in a particular area or not or such other questions pertaining to the eligibility of any person become a member of a Society. The cessation of membership of the Society under Section 19-B results if the member becomes subject to any of the disqualifications specified in Section 19-A and not because the member becomes ineligible on the ground of residence because of subsequent amendment of the bye-laws as is the case here. ( 7 ) IN the instant case, the Bye-laws provide that a person shall cease to be a member of the Society if he does not regularly reside in the area of operation of the Society. ( 7 ) IN the instant case, the Bye-laws provide that a person shall cease to be a member of the Society if he does not regularly reside in the area of operation of the Society. The case of the respondents is that on account of the amendment in the Bye-laws effecting a change in the area of operation the petitioners incurred disqualification on account of residence which now does not fall in the area of operation as amended. No provision has been shown to us by the learned counsel for the respondent that a person who has been validly inducted on fulfilling the eligibility qualifications at the time of his admission, could he excluded from membership of the Society on account of subsequent amendment of the bye-laws. Learned counsel for the petitioners has, however, cited a decision of this Court in Prem Narain verma v. Shilpkar Sahakari Majdoor Sangh, Shivpuri [1973 MPLJ Note no. 97] in which it is held that alteration of conditions of admission cannot terminate the membership of existing members on the basis of conditions of admission laid down by the Society after their admission. The relevant observations made in this behalf are reproduced below :"there is no provision in the M. P. Co-operative Societies Act or the rules which may enable a Society to expel or to terminate membership of an existing member by altering the qualifications for membership of the Society. Under Rule 6 (1) clause (i), a society is competent to lay down terms and conditions of admission of members but the bye-laws so made can provide only for the conditions of admission and will relate to persons who are to be admitted as members in future. Where the petitioner is duly qualified under Section 19 and has not incurred any disqualification as specified in Rule 15 of the rules, the officer-in-charge, who exercise the powers of the Committee, cannot expel him or terminate his membership on the ground that he does not fulfil the conditions of admission laid down by Society after his admission. Termination of membership may involve a monetary loss as well as loss of status and this can be brought about only under an express provision of the Act or the Rules. Termination of membership may involve a monetary loss as well as loss of status and this can be brought about only under an express provision of the Act or the Rules. " ( 8 ) AS regards the question whether Pachore should be treated as located in area of operation, it must be held that the area round about pachore upto a distance of ten or twelve miles would necessarily include pachore itself since the circle necessarily includes the centre, and as such, these petitioners who are residents of Pachore cannot be said to be residing outside the area of operation. ( 9 ) IN view of the discussion aforesaid, it must be held that the order of the respondent declaring the petitioners as having ceased to be members of the Society is patently illegal and invalid and is liable to be quashed. The petitioners must be held to be continuing as members of the Pachore Society. ( 10 ) IN the result, this petition is allowed. The order of the respondent dated 6-2-1)88 declaring the petitioners ineligible as members of the Pachore Society is hereby quashed and the petitioners are declared to be continuing as members of the said Society. In the circumstances of the case, there shall, however, be no order as to costs. The amount of security deposit, if any, shall be refunded to the petitioners after due verification. .