THE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE J.SREENIVAS RAO WRIT APPEAL No.1551 OF 2013 JUDGMENT: (per the Hon’ble Sri Justice J.Sreenivas Rao This intra Court appeal is filed by the appellants aggrieved by the order dated 14.06.2013 passed by the learned Single Judge dismissing W.P.No.16764 of 2013.

2. Heard Sri John Sushil Kale, learned party-in-person and Sri K.V.Bhanu Prasad, learned Senior Counsel representing Sri K. Sai Sri Harsha, learned counsel for respondent No.1, Sri B.Nalin Kumar, learned Senior Counsel representing Sri N. Venkateshwara Rao, learned counsel for respondent Nos.3, 4, 11 and 14.

3. Learned party-in-person submits that during the pendency of the writ appeal appellant No.1 namely Mrs. Nirmala Kale, who is mother of appellant No.2, died and no other legal heirs are there except appellant No.2, who is already on record.

4. Brief facts of the case:

4.1. According to appellants they are the longest standing members of the Brother Bakht Singh Fellowship (also known as “The Indigenous Churches in India” or the “Hebron Fellowhsip”)

which is a Protestant Christian religious denomination founded by one late Brother Bakht Singh in the year 1941-42. The said religious denomination as per the case of appellants comprises of about one thousand “Churches” called “Assemblies/local churches/indigenous churches” located all over India which are integral constituents of Brother Bakht Singh Fellowship which is a major and general church. It is pleaded in the writ petition that the said church is having several immovable properties as well as funds total worth several 100 Crores of Rupees vested in respondent No.1 Society. As per the averments made in the writ petition the said society purported to be a trustee in the Brother Bakht Singh Fellowship. According to appellants, respondent No.1 Society by its governing body members comprising of respondent Nos.2 to 6 conducted General Body Meeting and passed resolution dated 23.03.2004 dissolving the Society of Trustees of Indigenous Churches in India and transferring its assets and liabilities to the Indigenous Churches in India Trust by 10.00 A.M. on 25.03.2004. It is pleaded that same is in gross violation of Section 25 Read with Section 2(n) as well as Section 24 of the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana Societies Registration Act, 2001 (‘Act’ for brevity). Questioning the said resolution, the appellants approached this Court by filing W.P.No.16764 of 2013.

The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition on the ground that same is not maintainable.

Submissions of the learned party-in-person:

5. Learned party-in-person contended that the writ petition filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India is maintainable as respondent No.1 Society is discharging the public duty and has passed resolution contrary to the provisions of the Act. It is submitted that official respondents are entitled to take action under the Act. In such circumstances, the learned Single Judge ought to have decided the matter on merits. In support of his contentions he relied upon the following judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court in:

(i) Ram Charan Agarwala and others Vs.

Shridhar Misra and other1 (ii) Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar and others Vs. Life Insurance Corporation of India and Another, [AIR 1963 SC 1185]

(iii) Bishwanath and another Vs. Sri Thakur Radha Ballabhji and others, [AIR 1967 SC 1044]

1 AIR 1962 ALLAHABAD 610 Submissions of learned Senior Counsel for respondent Nos.3, 4, 11 and 14:

6. Per contra, learned Senior Counsel appearing for respondent Nos.3, 4, 11 and 14 submits that appellant No.2 is not having locus standi to question the impugned resolution and he is not a member of the respondent No.1 Society. He further submits that K. Jairaj and another filed suit in O.S.No.380 of 2010 on the file of II Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Courts, Hyderabad against respondent No.11 and others seeking declaration of defendant No.1 Trust therein as successor of the Society of Trustees of