G.O. (D). No. 158, Appointments as Four Committees, Chaired by Retired High Court Judges to Decide Co-operative Election Objections and Complaints, 2018

Purpose and relevance

G.O. (D). No. 158, Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection (CJ-1), dated 27 August 2018, creates four zonal committees to decide specified objections and complaints concerning co-operative elections. It was issued following orders of the High Court of Madras dated 3 August 2018 in W.P. (MD) No. 7620 of 2018 and a batch of cases. Its stated scope is co-operative elections, not land ownership or property records.

The notification mainly affects co-operative society voters, election candidates and people who had already raised eligible election disputes before the relevant authorities or the Court.

Committees and areas covered

The four committees appointed under G.O. (D). No. 158 are chaired by retired High Court judges and cover these zones:

• West, chaired by Justice S. Rajeswaran, with headquarters at Coimbatore.
• North, chaired by Justice K. Venkataraman, with headquarters at Chennai.
• South, chaired by Justice R.S. Ramanathan, with headquarters at Madurai.
• East Central, chaired by Justice G. Rajasuriya, with headquarters at Tiruchirappalli.

When a dispute concerns a particular co-operative society, the chairperson must include the Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies and the Collector of the district where that society is located, unless they are already committee members.

Matters the committees can decide

The committees appointed by the Governor of Tamil Nadu may consider:

• Wrongful inclusion or omission of names in voters' lists.
• Wrongful acceptance, non-acceptance or rejection of nomination papers.
• Wrongful acceptance or rejection of ballot papers.
• Disputes concerning polling, counting and other election matters.
• Whether nominations met Rule 52 of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Rules, 1988 and Election Commission Circular No. Na.Ka. 321/2018/Co.EI.1, dated 19 July 2018.

Nomination papers should not be rejected for minor reasons such as an identifiable signature differing or appearing in the wrong place. Voters' list objections may be raised only by an excluded voter or a contestant. Nomination objections may be raised only by affected contestants who filed or intended to file nominations.

Deadlines and limits

G.O. (D). No. 158 permits objections or complaints to be filed before a committee within seven days from its constitution, at an address published in a vernacular daily circulating in the district. Polling and counting disputes may be raised within fifteen days from publication of the notice.

The committees will not accept new voters' list or nomination complaints that had not previously been raised before the Court, Election Commission, Registrar or another appropriate authority. Disputes requiring detailed evidence must be referred to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies for adjudication by a panel of three arbitrators.