JUDGMENT : 1. This petition has been filed by Committee of Management Gandhi Grah Nirman Sahkari Samiti Ltd. seeking the following reliefs:- i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 01.02.2023, passed by opposite party number 4, contained as Annexure No.1 to the writ petition; ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the opposite party number 2 to hold the election of the Committee of Management of Gandhi Grah Nirman Sahkari Samiti Limited, Varanasi forthwith. iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the opposite party number 3 to allow the petitioner Committee of Management to manage affairs of the Society till the elections are held." 2. It is not in dispute that term of the Committee of Management has expired and elections to the same could not be held prior to expiry of the said term. In these circumstances, Additional Registrar Co-operative Society pertaining to the Cooperative Housing Society has issued the impugned order on 01.02.2023 constituting an interim management committee u/s 29(4-B) of U.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1965 comprising of five members including Cooperative Officer (Housing), Varanasi who happens to be an employee of the Housing Department of the Government. 3. With regard to validity of this constitution of interim management committee petitioner's contention is that opposite party No.5 being an employee of the Housing Department cannot function as an Election Officer in view of Proviso to Rule 8 of the U.P. State Cooperative Societies Election Rules, 2014, but, after notification of the election by the Election Commission, which in fact has lapsed, he is sending information pertaining to the voter list and valid members to the District Magistrate, which is a function, only the Election Officer can perform after he is appointed and in this regard. He has placed before the Court relevant provisions of the Rules. 4. He has placed before the Court relevant provisions of the Rules. 4. On the other hand, it is informed that as per Rule 12 of the aforesaid Rules, 2014, the Secretary or the Managing Director of the society are empowered to prepare a list of all voters against whose name, disqualification, if any, as described in the Act, the Rules, 2014 or bye-laws, are to be mentioned and the members, ordinary members or sympathizers, duly enrolled 120 days before the date of election, in accordance with direction given by the Commission from time to time or the provisions for the time being in force, therefore, this function has to be performed by the interim managing committee which comprises of five members, of which Cooperative Officer Housing is only one of them. 5. We find that there is no prohibition in appointing him as part of the interim managing committee u/s 29(4) B of the Act, 1965. It is also informed that ultimately the provisional voter list is to be published by the Election Officer under Rule 13 and, thereafter, it has to be finalized by the same officer, therefore, merely because some information is being sent by the interim management committee of which the said officer is a part, this will not give a cause to the petitioner to challenge its constitution. 6. Term of every committee of management of a Cooperative Society is defined under Section 29(2)(a) as 5 years and the term of the elected members of the committee of management shall be co-terminus with the term of such committee. 7. As per sub-section 4-A of Section 29 of the Act, 1965, due to any reason, what’s over, if members of the management committee have not elected and could not get elected before expiry of its five years tenure then committee of management shall cease to exist after expiry of its term notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other provision of the Act, 1965, or the Rule made thereunder or the bye-laws of the society and in this eventuality Section 4-B comes into play and Registrar appoints an interim management committee. 8. 8. We find merit in the contention of the opposite party firstly, for the reason, the order impugned contained in Annexure No.1 is an order passed u/s 29(4-B) of the Act, 1965; secondly this order cannot be treated as one passed u/s 35 because the latter provision speaks of supersession or suspension of committee of management, whereas there is no question of supersession or suspension of committee of management after the term has already expired. The order impugned dated 01.02.2023 is one passed u/s 29(4-B) providing for an interim management committee after the elected managing committee has ceased to exist. 9. Much emphasis was laid by learned counsel for the petitioner relying upon one of the grounds on which supersession or suspension of the committee of management can be ordered u/s 35, that is, when the committee of management has failed to conduct election in accordance with the provisions of the Act, 1965 before the expiry of the term of the committee of the management. However, we are not impressed by this argument for the reason that the committee of management firstly does not conduct the election and as of now elections are to be conducted as per direction of the Election Commission, secondly, as already stated words "has failed to conduct election in accordance with provision of this Act before the expiry of the term of the committee of management" will have to be understood and applied reasonably considering the fact that elections are to be conducted on the directions of the Election Commission and not by the committee of management, therefore, these words, have to be read conjointly with Section 29 of the Act, 1965 relating to the committee of management. We may in this regard refer to sub-section 3 of Section 29 of the Act, 1965, according to which, election to re-constitute committee of management of every Cooperative Society shall be completed in the prescribed manner under the superintendence, control and direction of the Election Commission at least 15 days before the expiry of the term of the committee of management and the members so elected shall replace the committee of management whose terms expired under sub-section (2). Sub-section 4 says that it shall be the duty of the Secretary or the Managing Director of the Cooperative Society, as the case may be, to send to the Election Commission, four months before the expiry of the term of the committee of management, a requisition for conducting the election and to furnish all such information as may be required by the Election Commission, within such period as may be fixed by it. Therefore, the words referred in Section 35 as quoted herein-above have to be read conjointly with sub-section (4) of Section 29 and it is when the Secretary or the Managing Director of the Cooperative Society fails to send to the election commission four months before the expiry of its term a requisition for conducting the election and also fails to furnish all such information as required by the Election Commission within such period as may be fixed by it that provision of Section 35 of the Act, 1965 would be attracted. Moreover, these provisions are as already stated would be attracted in a case where the term of management committee has not expired or the Managing Committee has not ceased to exist. It will not apply to a case where the term of managing committee has already expired or it has ceased to exist. This is obvious, as, any supersession or suspension of a committee of management can take place only when the Managing Committee still exists and/or its term has not expired. There is no question of supersession or suspension of a committee of the management when it has already ceased to exist or its term has expired. The action envisaged under Section 35 of the Act, 1965 is somewhat penal in nature, whereas, the provision of Section 29(4-B) of the Act, 1965 is not so. The latter provision only provides for a stop gap arrangement for facilitating management of a Cooperative Society when the elected management committee has ceased to exist or its term has expired. The scope of the two provisions is very different. 10. Moreover, we find that as per the fourth Proviso to Section 35 of the Act, 1965, the Registrar is divested of any power to supersede or suspend a committee of management of any Cooperative Society where there is no Government share holding or loan or financial assistance or any guarantee by the Government. 10. Moreover, we find that as per the fourth Proviso to Section 35 of the Act, 1965, the Registrar is divested of any power to supersede or suspend a committee of management of any Cooperative Society where there is no Government share holding or loan or financial assistance or any guarantee by the Government. It is the petitioner’s own case that the society at hand is covered by the said Proviso, therefore, there is no question of application of Section 35 and this is an additional reason why the order impugned herein cannot be treated as one having been passed under Section 35. 11. From the above discussion, it is apparent that the order impugned dated 01.02.2023 has been passed after expiry of the term of the committee of management of the Cooperative Society on 30th January, 2023. It is thus an order under Section 29(4-B) of Act, 1965. 12. As regards the contention of the petitioner's counsel that it is impermissible for an officer of the Housing Department to be made part of the interim management, we do not find any such provision in the Act, 1965 or any Rule made thereunder, prohibiting the inclusion of any such officer in the interim management committee. Reliance placed by the learned counsel for the petitioner on the Proviso to Rule 8 in this regard is misplaced as, the said Proviso merely says that no officer/employee of the department concerned with the management and administration of the society shall be appointed as Election Officer. It is not the case that the said officer who has been made part of the interim management has been appointed as Election Officer. The Proviso to Rule 8 cannot be read to mean that in the interim managing committee no such officer can be included. 13. As regards as the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that as part of the interim managing committee, the said officer is preparing the list of voters is concerned, the same is also not acceptable for the reason as per Rule 12 of the Rules 2014, it is the Secretary or the Managing Director of the society who are required to prepare a list of all voters referred therein. Assuming for a moment that this work is to be performed by the interim management committee, we may in this context, refer to sub-section 4-C of Section 29, according to which, the interim managing committee appointed under sub-section 4(B) shall exercise the powers and perform the functions of the managing committee under this Act, subject to the directions given by the Registrar from time to time. In view of this, interim management committee, unless any member of the interim management committee is functioning as Secretary or Managing Director of the Cooperative Society or the post of Secretary of society is separate, it is the interim management committee which will have to perform the obligations as mentioned in Rule 12 of the Rules 2014. The preparation of list of voters referred in Rule 12 is not a final exercise but is only a preliminary exercise to provide requisite list of voters to the Election Officer and ultimately it is the Election Officer, who has to publish the provisional voter list prepared in accordance with Rule 12 and thereafter, the said list of voters would be finalized by the Election Officer in terms of Rule 37 read with Rule 38 of Rules 2014. Therefore, the provisional list prepared under Rule 12 does not itself become the final list and ultimately it is the Election Officer, who has to finalized the same after considering objection thereto, if any. Moreover as already stated, the officer of the Housing Department is only one of the members of the interim management committee. 14. We are therefore not persuaded by this argument to hold that his inclusion in interim managing committee is not permissible in law and we reject this contention. 15. Now the only issue which remains to be considered is with regard to holding of elections to the committee of management of the Cooperative Society in question. In this regard, Shri Gaurav Mehrotra informed that earlier a notification for election was issued but on account of non-provision of list of voters by the Secretary or Managing Director of the Cooperative Society, the process could not be completed and now it will have to be re-notified and in this process the interim managing committee will have to provide relevant information as envisaged in Rule 12 of Rules 2014 including the list of voters. 16. 16. In view of above, we provide that the interim management committee or if there is any Secretary or Managing Director shall undertake an exercise in this regard in terms of Rule 12 at the appropriate stage and provide requisite information to the Election Commission in accordance with law and the Election Commission on its part shall proceed to notify the election and ensure that it is held in fair and objective manner in accordance with law, at the earliest. 17. We further direct the interim management committee to undertake the aforesaid exercise as envisaged in Rule 12 straightaway without waiting for the notification of Election by the Commission, so that as soon as the elections are notified the information is ready at their level for being forwarded to the concerned officer or the Election Commission as the case may be, and elections may not get delayed, postponed or cancelled only on account of any omission on its part. The aforesaid in our opinion shall meet the ends of justice and redress the grievance of the petitioner, if any. So far as the impugned order Annexure No.1 is concerned, we find no reason to interfere with it. 18. Writ petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.