Mandatory time limit for Registrar's approval or disapproval of expulsion resolution ends jurisdiction after three months.

Section 36(1) of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act makes expulsion of a member effective only after the resolution is submitted to the Registrar and the Registrar communicates approval or disapproval within three months. The time limit is a mandatory fetter on the Registrar's authority, not a mere directory requirement. Once three months expire without communication, the Registrar's power to act lapses, the Registrar becomes functus officio, and the resolution takes effect by operation of law. The Supreme Court therefore held that a later disapproval was without jurisdiction and the challenge to the Registrar's order succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the Registrar's failure to communicate approval or disapproval of a society's resolution expelling a member within three months under Section 36(1) of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 rendered the Registrar functus officio and deprived him of jurisdiction to disapprove the resolution thereafter.

Analysis: The substantive power of expulsion under Section 36(1) is controlled by the two provisos. The first proviso requires the member to be given an opportunity of representation and the resolution to be submitted to the Registrar for approval. The second proviso imposes a further limitation by requiring the Registrar to communicate approval or disapproval within three months of submission, failing which the resolution becomes effective. Reading the section as a whole, the time prescription is a fetter on the Registrar's authority and is not merely directory. Once the stipulated period expires without communication, the statutory power to approve or disapprove lapses.

Conclusion: The Registrar became functus officio after expiry of the three-month period and lacked jurisdiction to disapprove the expulsion resolution thereafter. The challenge to the Registrar's order therefore succeeded in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute makes the effectiveness of a resolution contingent upon approval or disapproval being communicated within a specified period, the expiry of that period without communication terminates the decision-maker's authority and the resolution becomes effective by operation of law.

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