Amreshwar Pratap Sahi And Attau Rahman Masoodi, JJ. –

This appeal has been filed by twenty persons claiming themselves to be the members of the General Body of a society registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860 that runs a Junior High School, namely Raju Laghu Uchchatar Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Tikri, Agaganj, Faizabad.

2. They are aggrieved as the respondent no. 3 – Deputy Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Faizabad Region, Faizabad has held that their enrolment as members of the society as invalid being not through a validly existing committee of office-bearers, and further that since no valid elections of the Committee of Management survived as the tenure had come to an end long back in the year 2005, therefore, in exercise of powers under sub-section (2) of Section 25 of the 1860 Act, it was imperative to hold fresh elections. The Dy. Registrar has treated the Committee to have become defunct since 2005-06 as such all subsequent actions including the alleged enrolment of the petitioners to be void.

3. The dispute between the parties has a chequered history.

4. The first fact which deserves to be clarified is with regard to the status of the registration of the S