1. The Cannanore Co-operative Hospital Society Ltd. popularly known as A. K. G. Hospital, (hereinafter referred to as the 'society'), appears to be a prestigious institution in Cannanore. It is a Co-operative Society registered under the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, 1969, (the Act for brevity). The bye-laws of the society, as they stood registered under S.7 of the Act, authorised a share capital of Rs.Forty lakhs, consisting of five thousand A class members of Rs. 100/- each, fifty B class members of Rs.1,000/- each, two thousand five hundred C class members of Rs.1,000/- each, open to the State and Central Governments, and nine hundred and fifty D class members of Rs.1,000/- each, open to local bodies, co-operative and Charitable Societies. The petitioner is a member of the Society.

2. One M. V. Raghavan, who was a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (but who, it is said, now stands expelled from it), was the Chairman of the Managing Committee of the society. An election was held to the managing committee for the period 1987-92, when the committee headed by M. V. Raghavan was ousted from office, alleged to be due to large scale rigging of the elections