A writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is not maintainable against a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 2001, where the entity is not an instrumentality of the State under Article 12 and the dispute concerns internal management, for which specific remedies exist under Section 23.

ORDER:

The 1st petitioner is the Vice-President of the 2nd respondent-State Olympic Association, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 2001. The 2nd respondent-Association receives funds from the Indian Olympic Association and also from the State Government for furtherance of Sports Activities and to inculcate sportsmanship, aesthetic, ethical and spiritual values and development of character and good citizenship. Petitioner Nos.2 and 3 are the Joint Secretary and Treasurer of the Association, respectively. The grievance in the writ petition is that the term of Office of the Association expired on 08.02.2024, however, the erstwhile Office Bearers are continuing as Office Bearers and mismanaging the affairs of the Association and acting detrimental to the aims and objects of the Association. It is alleged that respondent No.3 in collusion with respondent No.4 committed serious irregularities in conducting the affairs of the Association, mismanaged the funds without maintaining proper account books, collected money for booking conference halls and room bookings without proper record, took their own decisions without consulting the other Office Bearers and not putting them before the Managing Committee or General Body for approval, conduct meetings on their own wishes, and they used to remove the Office Bearers of the affiliated associations and appoint their favourable persons as Office Bearers. It is also alleged that the Association has three Bank Accounts and respondent No.3 receives salary as an Advisor to Central Government and declared himself as Officiating President though By-Laws doesn’t recognize the same and no Annual General Body meeting is conducted till date. It is stated that an Annual General Body Meeting was conducted by the Office Bearers on 26.06.2022 and some office bearers and affiliated associations submitted representations objecting to the same due to various irregularities and requested them to rectify the irregularities and postpone the Annual General Meeting to a later date in consultation with Executive Committee members, however, the same was disregarded and respondents 2 to 4 have conducted the meeting and passed illegal resolutions. It is alleged that the 3rd petitioner informed the 3rd respondent on 10.11.2023 that from the date of election, he has not been given the charge of cash books, cheque books, ledgers, and other expenditure details of management of office and Olympic Bhavan, and respondents 3 and 4 did not disclose the number of accounts, fixed deposits etc. It is alleged that after the 3rd petitioner communicated the irregularities being committed by the 3rd respondent, the 3rd respondent terminated the 3rd petitioner from the post of Treasurer of the Association, without following Clause No.2 of the By-Law No.11 that stipulates no-confidence motion supported by 3/4th strength of the Association for such removal from office, and the 3rd petitioner got issued a Legal Notice to recall the termination order. However, as the termination was not recalled the 3rd petitioner filed OP No.1/2024 on the file of XXV Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, along with a Stay Application but the Stay application was dismissed without appreciating the facts. On 17.12.2023, petitioners 1 and 3 and some State affiliated Associations submitted a representation to take necessary action on the illegalities of respondents 3 and 4. It is stated that when the 2nd respondent issued Notice to conduct Exec