SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Article Pause Article
judgment-img

2008 Supreme(Mad) 4739

High Court of Judicature at Madras
THE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE R. BANUMATHI
G. Athiyaman & Another
Versus
The District Registrar-cum-Societies Registrar & Others
W.P.Nos. 20051, 28544 and 34949 of 2007 & M.P.Nos.1&2 of 2007 in WP.No.20051 of 2007 and M.P.No.1 of 2007 in WP.No.28544 of 2007 and M.P.No.1 of 2007 in WP.No.34949 of 2007
Decided on: 22-12-2008

Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioners:V. Raghavachari, Advocate.
For the Respondents:R1, R3 & R4, N. Senthilkumar, Addl. Govt. Pleader, R2, S. Mani, Advocate.

The main legal point established in the judgment is that parallel legal proceedings may not be maintainable when there is a pending appeal before the Government, and the court may uphold administrative decisions in the interest of an organization.

Headnote:

Writ Petitions - Appointment of Secretary in a Society - Society Registration Act, Sections 25, 26, 28 - The court dismissed Writ Petition No.20051/2007 and directed the 2nd Respondent to continue as Secretary till the conclusion of the appeal pending before the 4th Respondent. Writ Petition No.28544/2007 was dismissed, and Writ Petition No.34949/2007 was allowed, setting aside the appointment of the 2nd Respondent as Secretary.

Fact of the Case:

The case involved a dispute over the appointment of the Secretary of a registered society formed to educate destitute children. The dispute arose from conflicting Form VII submissions by the Writ Petitioner and the 2nd Respondent, leading to legal proceedings and appeals.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the 3rd Respondent's order directing the 2nd Respondent to continue as Secretary was in the interest of the Society and that the Writ Petitioner's parallel proceedings before the High Court were not maintainable.

Issues: The main issues were the validity of the Form VII submissions, the authority of the 3rd Respondent to decide the Secretaryship, and the maintainability of the Writ Petitions in light of the pending appeal before the Government.

Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the 3rd Respondent's order was in the interest of the Society and that the Writ Petitioner's parallel proceedings were not maintainable due to the pending appeal before the Government.

Final Decision: The court dismissed Writ Petition No.20051/2007, dismissed Writ Petition No.28544/2007, and allowed Writ Petition No.34949/2007, setting aside the appointment of the 2nd Respondent as Secretary.

Judgment :-

Common Order:

1. W.P.Nos.20051 & 28544/2007:

Petitioner seeks Writ of Mandamus to suspend the Proceedings of the 3rd Respondent in Proceedings No.63503/G2/06 dated 05. 2007 ordering that the present office bearers can continue till the election of office bearers pending disposal of the appeal before the 4th Respondent.

2. Challenging the impugned proceedings of the 1st Respondent in Na.Ka. No.1987/A1/06 dated 28. 2007, granting approval for the appointment of Kannan as Secretary, W.P.No.28544/2007 has been filed.

3. Since, all the three Writ Petitions are filed with regard to approval of appointment of Secretary in the disputed Vallalar Arivalayam Primary School and involve common questions, all three Writ Petitions were taken up together and shall stand disposed of by this common order.

4. For convenience, partiesare referred as per their array in W.P.No.20051/2007.

5. Brief facts which led to the filing of both Writ Petitions are as follows:-

.(i) Petitioner is the Secretary of Vallalar Illam which is a registered society formed by father of the Petitioner in the year 1967 registered in the District Registrars Office, Krishnagiri. The object of the Society is to educate the destitute children irrespective of caste, community, religion etc. and the Society is governed by bye-laws and regulations.

.(ii) Krishnagiri Registration District was bifurcated into two Registration Districts in 1982. While formation of District Registrar Office at Dharmapuri, the above said Societys records have been transferred to the new Registration District of Dharmapuri. The said Society was renewed upto the financial year 2002-2003 and has to be renewed subsequent financial year 2003-2004.

(iii) At that stage, 2nd Respondent who is the member of the Society has submitted Form VII on 29. 2004 stating that he is Secretary of the Society and insisted the administration to honour his Form VII and the renew the Society for the year 2003-2004. Whereas, another member of the Society has submitted application under Form VII stating that he is the Secretary of that Society and requested to renew the Society.

.(iv) District Registrar and the Registrar of the Society, Dharmapuri conducted an enquiry with Markatham, the President of the Society on 05. 2006. Since the 4th Respondent is not a proper person of the Society, his Form VII was not honoured and approved by the District Registrar, Dharmapuri.

.(v) Writ Petitioner G. Athiyaman has also filed Form VII stating that Special General Body Meeting was held on 21. 2005. Through that Meeting 2nd Respondent was dismissed from the Society and Athiyaman was elected as Secretary to the Society. District Registrar conducted an enquiry on 15. 2006 with Krishnan who is the member of the Society who had stated that 21 days prior notice was not given. Hence, his Form VII filed by Athiyaman was also not honoured.

.(vi) Both 2nd Respondent and Athiyaman (Writ Petitioner) have preferred an appeal before 3rd Respondent. 3rd Respondent in its order No.63503/G2/06 dated 5. 2007 set aside the order of 1st Respondent and directed the 2nd Respondent to continue in the post of Secretary of the Society which is challenged in W.P.No.20051/2007.

(vii) In W.P.No.20051/2007, Court has granted status quo on 16. 2007. Subsequent to the order of the Court, 1st Respondent has taken steps to appoint the 2nd Respondent as Secretary and passed orders on 16. 2007. After the receipt of status quo order, DEEO has recalled its order dated 12.06.2007 and appointed the Petitioner as Secretary in its order dated 07. 2007. While that being so, in its order dated 28. 2007, DEEO has revoked the appointment of the Petitioner and appointed the 2nd Respondent Kannan as Secretary which is the subject matter of challenge in W.P.No.28544/2007.

.6. W.P.No.34949/2007:

.Second Respondent – Kannan was appointed as Secretary of Vellalar School which is an aided school for the period from 01.04.2007 to 31.05.2010. Based on the order of the






































Click Here to Read the rest of this document

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
whatsapp-icon Back to top