The court emphasized that management disputes in societies must prioritize valid elections and the welfare of the institution, invalidating prior orders that denied rightful appointments.

In all these writ petitions, the dispute pertains to the management of a school namely M.A.M.L.P School, Vellakad, which is managed by a Society named Vellakkad Muhammed Abdul Rahman Memorial Educational Society, registered under the Societies Registration Act . As of now, two factions of the Society are contesting against each other and claiming the right of management of the school based on the elections conducted in the Society. W.P.(C)Nos.8780/2023, 15904/2021 and 30637/2021 were filed by the said Society represented by Sri. Joseph Kattathara, who claims to be the President of the Society. On the other hand, WP(C)No.10955/2021 is filed by the very same Society, represented by Sri. A.P.Abdul Sathar, who also claims that, he is the President of the said Society. (For convenience, WP(C)No.8780/2023 is treated as the leading case, being the latest writ petition which contains all the documents up to date and hereinafter the reference of all the parties and exhibits shall be based on their respective descriptions in WP(C)No.8780/2023, unless otherwise referred to specifically. The petitioner in WP(C)No.8780/2023, which is the Society represented by Joseph Kattathara is hereinafter referred to as Joseph Kattathara whereas, the petitioner in WP(C) No.10955/2021 is hereinafter referred to as Sri. A.P.Abdul Sathar.)

2. The facts which led to the filing of these writ petitions are as follows:

Vellakkad Muhammed Abdul Rahman Memorial Educational Society is managing Vellakkad M.A.M.L.P school and the President of the petitioner Society used to be the manager of the said school. The undisputed election to the President of the Society was conducted during the meeting of the general body on 3.7.2011. In the said election, Sri. Joseph Kattathara was elected as the President and consequently, he was appointed as the Manager of the school by the Executive Committee. The said appointment was approved by the 5^th respondent as per Ext.P2.

Exhibit P1 is the bye-laws of the Society and as per the same, the term of office of the management committee is for three years (Later it was amended as five years, but according to the educational authorities, the term is remaining as three years.) Even though the period of Joseph Kattathara expired during the year, 2014, as per the terms of the bye-laws, he continued as the Manager, in view of the fact that, as per clause 46 of Ext.P1 bye-laws, the governing body could be continued even after expiry of the tenure, until a new elected body as per the bye- laws takes charge of the affairs of the Society. Besides, in Ext.P2 order of approval, no time limit was also prescribed.

3. In the meantime, the 6^th respondent in WP(C)No.8780/2023- Sri, A.P.Abdul Sathar filed O.S.No.11/2018 before the Munsiff Court, Payyannur, seeking a mandatory injunction against the defendants therein, which include the Society, Sri. Joseph Kattathara and Sri. Sunil Kumar, the Secretary of the Society, to conduct the election to the governing body of the Society. According to the petitioner, while the said civil suit was pending consideration, an election was conducted on 20.02.2018 in the general body meeting convened by the Society in terms of Ext.P1 by-laws. In the said election, Sri. Joseph Kattathara was again elected as the President, and the new Executive Committee unanimously decided that the said Joseph Kattathara will act as the Manager of the school. Exhibit P3 is the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 20.02.2018.

4. Based on the same, an application dated 19.04.2018 was submitted before the 5^th respondent, for appr