The Registrar's power to convene a meeting under Sec. 25(2)(c)(i) is not independent of an enquiry and does not confer appellate or revisional power over the decisions of the society.

JUDGMENT/ORDER

1. W.P.No.104928 of 2021 is preferred by the President of the society along with its members of the society challenging the communication dtd. 25/11/2021 issued by the District Registrar, by which, the District Registrar has purported to exercise the law available to him under Sec. 25 (2) (c)(i) of The Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred as 'the Act' for brevity) and has directed the convening of a meeting on 14/12/2021 to be held in his office and also prescribed the agenda and has called upon all the National Executive Council (hereinafter referred as 'NEC' for brevity) members to attend.

2. W.P. No.105344/2021 is also filed by the petitioners challenging the order dtd. 22/9/2021 passed by the District Registrar whereby the District Registrar has set-aside the order of suspension dtd. 13/5/2021 suspending Smt. B.K.Tanuja and Smt.Gayatri Shetty and ordered that they shall be entitled to continue the same position that they were holding before.

3. Learned Senior Counsel Shri J.S.Patil basically contended that the District Registrar had absolutely no jurisdiction to issue any direction to either convene a meeting and that too at his office. He submitted that the District Registrar had no jurisdiction to set-aside an order of suspension passed against two members in the exercise of the power under Sec. 25 of the Act. He submitted that Sec. 25 of the Act basically provided for holding an enquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition of a society and for the purposes of conducting an enquiry, certain powers had been conferred and ultimately, after the enquiry was made, the District Registrar was only obligated to communicate the result of the enquiry to the society concerned and also submit a report to the Government upon which the Government could appoint an administrator. He submitted that the power to hold an enquiry did not confer the power to issue a direction to either convene a meeting at the office of the District Registrar or to set-aside an order of suspension.

4. Shri Adesh Kumar, learned counsel for the contesting respondents, however, contended that the order passed by the District Registrar in these writ petitions were necessitated in view of the highhanded acts of the petitioners in refusing to avoid the mandate of the general body. He submitted that since, the petitioners were acting whimsically, the District Registrar who was duly bound to step in and ensure that order was maintained in the society.

5. In order to appreciate the contentions of the parties, an overview of the relevant provision would be necessary. Sec. 25 of the Act reads as follows;

"(1) The Registrar may on his own motion and shall on the application of the majority to of the members of the governing body or of not less than one-third of the members of the society, hold an enquiry or direct some person authorised by him by order in writing in accordance with the rules made in this behalf to hold an enquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition of a registered society.

(2) The Registrar or the person authorised by him under sub-sec. (1) shall have the following powers, namely, - (a) he shall, at all reasonable times, have free access to the books, accounts, documents, securities, cash and other properties belonging to or in the custody of the society and may summon any person in possession or responsible for the custody of any such books, accounts, documents securities, cash or other properties to produce the same at any place at the headquarters of the society or any branch thereof; (b) he may summon any person who, he has reason to believe, has knowledge of any of the affairs of the society to appear before him at any place at the headquarters of the society or any branch thereof and may examine such person on oath;

(c) (i) he may, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any rule or regulation prescribing the period of notice for a general meeting of the so