ARUN MARUTI KOLPE AND OTHERSversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THR ITS SECRETARY AND OTHERS

2026:BHC-AUG:42168


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                     IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                              WRIT PETITION NO. 11910 OF 2026
                             ARUN MARUTI KOLPE AND OTHERS
                                             VERSUS
                   THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THR ITS SECRETARY AND
                                             OTHERS
                                                 ...
                         Advocate for Petitioner : Mr. Yuvraj S. Choudhari
                      AGP for Respondent Nos. 1, 2 & 4 : Ms. K.S. Hoke Patil
                     Advocate for Respondent No. 3 : Mr. Dighe Vitthal Haribhau
                        Advocate for Respondent No. 5 : Mr. Vijay B. Jagtap
                                                …

                                       CORAM : MANJUSHA DESHPANDE, J.
                                       DATE : 11th SEPTEMBER, 2026


              PER COURT :

              1.           In continuation of the order passed by this Court on

              07.09.2026, Respondent no. 5 has today produced a certificate showing

              that the resolution has been passed by the Panch Committee Sabha, dated

              08.09.2026, to the effect that the 14 Petitioners before this Court have

              already cleared their dues and there are no pending dues against those

              Petitioners. Therefore, the Society does not have any objection for

              inclusion of their names in the voters’ list of the election for Respondent

              no. 5 / Society for the period from 2026 to 2031.

              2.           As observed in the order dated 07.09.2026, the names of the

              Petitioners were not included in the provisional voters’ list on the ground
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that they were defaulters on the date of provisional voters’ list was

published on 14.08.2026. It is the case of the Petitioners that since the

loans availed by them have been paid by the government by the scheme

floated by the government vide resolution dated 02.06.2026, namely

Punyasholk Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmukti Yojna, 2026 and the

loans of the Petitioners have been waived under the loan waiver scheme.

3.           Pursuant to the loans of the Petitioners being cleared,

certificates have been issued by Respondent no. 5 / Society, the

certificates to that effect have been annexed to the Writ Petition. As per

the programme declared by the District Co-operative Election Officer and

District Deputy Registrar Co-operative Society, Ahmednagar, the last

date for raising objections to the provisional voters’ list was 24.08.2026.

The date for deciding the objections received up to 24.08.2026 was

03.09.2026 and the last date for declaring the final voters’ list is

08.09.2026. The Petitioners have undoubtedly cleared their loan accounts

and are no more defaulters as per the certificates annexed to the Writ

Petition as well as the certificates issued by Respondent no. 5 / Society.

4.           Learned Advocate for the Petitioners has relied on two

decisions of this Court of the co-ordinate bench in Writ Petition no.

897/2016 in Shamrao B. Kadam and Others Versus District Co-operative

Election Officer and Others and in Writ Petition Stamp no. 16845/2025, in
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Shriram Santosh Patil and Others Versus The District Co-operative Election

Officer and Others, where this Court has taken a view that if the

Petitioners ceases to be defaulter of the Society, the disqualification

incurred by them under Section 73 CA (1) of the Maharashtra Co-

operative Societies, Act, ceases to exist.

5.              The Petitioners have challenged the order passed by the

District Co-operative Election Officer and District Deputy Registrar Co-

operative Societies, Ahilyanagar, dated 03.09.2026, where they have

raised objection to the deletion of their names from the provisional

voters’ list, which been turned down, on the ground that the objections

raised by them were issued after the cut off date i.e. 24.08.2026. Thus,

according to Respondent no. 3, after the election programme was

declared by the District Co-operative Election Officer, the objections

could not be entertained. Although their objections have been turned

down on 03.09.2026, Respondent no. 5 / Society has given their its

objection for inclusion of the names of the present Petitioners in the final

voters’ list.

6.              Learned Advocate appearing for Respondent no. 3 submits

that although the final voters’ list has been published on 08.09.2026, the

further election programme is yet to be published.

7.              Even though the final voters’ list has been published on
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08.09.2026, the objections were already raised by the Petitioners on

02.09.2026. Since they ceased to be defaulters on 27.08.2026, itself, due

to the waiver of loan of the Petitioners waived as per the Ahilyadevi

Holkar Shetkari Karjmukti Yojana. The disqualification incurred by them

ceased to exist, when the final voters’ list was published on 08.09.2026.

Thus, making them eligible to be valid voters.

8.            Therefore in view of the two decisions referred (supra), the

Writ Petition deserves to be allowed by directing Respondent no. 3 to

include the name of the Petitioners who no more incur the

disqualification of being a defaulter and deserve to be included in the

final voters’ list of Respondent no. 5 / Society for the ensuing elections

for the period of 2026 to 2031.

9.            In the wake of the aforementioned observations, the

impugned order passed by Respondent no. 3 dated 03.09.2026, is

quashed and set aside and Writ Petition is allowed in terms of prayer

clause ‘B’.

10.           The parties to act upon authenticated copy of this order.




                                      ( MANJUSHA DESHPANDE, J. )


SPC