Industrial Tribunal jurisdiction preserved where co-operative society service-condition disputes fall outside the Registrar's statutory domain.

Section 61 of the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 was construed narrowly: it covers only disputes touching a society's constitution, management or business that the Registrar can resolve under the Act, rules and bye-laws. Disputes seeking alteration of employees' service conditions were held outside that scope because the Registrar could not vary service conditions fixed by bye-laws. The bye-laws were binding between the parties but did not have the force of law so as to exclude Industrial Tribunal jurisdiction under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Section 16(5) was treated as irrelevant to this jurisdictional question.

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Issues: Whether the jurisdiction of the Industrial Tribunal to adjudicate the dispute was barred by section 61 of the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964, and whether disputes relating to alteration of employees' service conditions could be decided only by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.

Analysis: Section 61 of the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964, notwithstanding its non-obstante language, applies only to disputes touching the constitution, management or business of a society that are capable of being resolved by the Registrar or his nominee. The expression "business of a society" was understood in the narrower sense of the society's actual trading or commercial activity, and not as including every matter connected with its affairs. Disputes seeking alteration of service conditions of employees did not fall within that expression, because the Registrar, acting under sections 61 and 62, was bound to decide disputes in accordance with the Act, rules and bye-laws and could not grant relief varying service conditions contained in bye-laws. The bye-laws of a co-operative society were binding between the parties, but did not have the force of law so as to curtail the jurisdiction of an Industrial Tribunal to adjudicate an industrial dispute under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Section 16(5) was also held irrelevant to the jurisdictional question because it concerned amendment of bye-laws in the interests of the society or the co-operative movement, not resolution of industrial disputes.

Conclusion: The dispute regarding alteration of service conditions was not one that was required to be referred to the Registrar under section 61, and the Industrial Tribunal had jurisdiction to decide it.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed because the statutory scheme of the Co-operative Societies Act did not exclude industrial adjudication of the service-conditions dispute, and the Tribunal's jurisdiction was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A dispute concerning alteration of employees' service conditions in a co-operative society's bye-laws is outside section 61 of the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964, where the Registrar lacks power to grant the relief claimed, and such bye-laws do not have the force of law to oust the jurisdiction of an Industrial Tribunal.

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