The acceptance or rejection of Form No.VII by the Registrar of Societies is a ministerial act and not amenable to the writ jurisdiction. The Registrar has no power to adjudicate any dispute and cannot direct a society to hold fresh elections.

V. Ramasubramanian, J.

"Siddharth Heights" is a complex of residential apartments comprising of about 113 flats and the owners of these apartments have joined together and formed an Association known as "Siddharth Heights Apartments Owners Association". The said Association was registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, bearing Sl.No.46 of 2004.

2. On the ground that a new set of office bearers were elected to the society, in an election held on 28.01.2007, Form No.VII under Rule 17(2) of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Rules, 1978, was filed with the District Registrar of Societies, South Chennai, on the same day. Later, objections were lodged with the District Registrar on the ground that election was not properly conducted in accordance with the Bye-laws. Therefore, the District Registrar, South Chennai, passed an order dated 30.05.2007, rejecting the Form No.VII filed on 28.01.2007 and directing the conduct of fresh elections.

3. Aggrieved by the said order dated 30.05.2007, passed by the District Registrar, the office bearers, who had filed Form No.VII, came up with the writ petition in W.P.No.24017 of 2007. The said writ petition was disposed of by the learned Judge, by an order dated 12.09.2007, directing the parties to agitate the issues before the Civil Court and also directing both the parties not to operate the bank account, till the matter is taken to the Civil Court. However, the learned Judge also expressed a view that the District Registrar, having accepted Form No.VII at the beginning, on 28.01.2007, ought not to have passed the order dated 30.05.2007 rejecting Form No.VII and directing the conduct of fresh elections. Therefore, challenging the order of the learned Judge, the members of the ad-hoc Committee, who were impleaded as respondents 2 to 8 in the writ petition and at whose instance the District Registrar passed the order impugned in the writ petition, have come up with the present writ appeal.

4. Heard Mr. A.L. Somayaji, learned Senior Counsel for the appellant, Mr. P. Raja Kalifulla, learned Government Pleader for the first respondent and Mr. J.R.K. Bhavanandam, learned counsel for the second respondent.

5. The second respondent Association itself was formed only in February, 2004, and the first set of office bearers was elected in April, 2004. But, they resigned, following some unpleasant incidents. Therefore, an ad-hoc Committee was constituted, which comprised of the appellants herein.

6. In a General Body Meeting held on 212. 2006, two persons were named as Election Officers to conduct elections on 28.01.2007, but one of the Election Officers declined to act as such. However, the election was purportedly conducted on 28.01.2007 and as required by Section 15(1) of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act read with Rule 17(2) of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Rules, Form No.VII was filed on the same day, viz., 28.01.2007. This Form No.VII was accepted by the District Registrar.

7. However, a letter of protest was lodged with the District Registrar on 30.01.2007 by the members of the ad-hoc Committee, who are the appellants herein. Similarly, when the newly elected office bearers informed the State Bank of India about their election and their intention to operate the bank account, the appellants lodged a protest with the State Bank of India also. Therefore, the State Bank of India sent a communication to the District Registrar on 05.03.2007 to clarify as to whether the newly elected officer bearers or the ad-hoc Committee, was in charge of the affairs of the Society. In response to the said letter, the District Registrar sent a reply dated 14.03.2007 pointing out that there were lot of irregularities in the conduct of the affairs of the Society and that consequently a Notification had already been published in the Government Gazette under Section 44(2) of the Act for the removal of the name of the Society from the Register. In continuation of the