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2025 Supreme(Online)(Tel) 12102
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
T. MADHAVI DEVI, J
The Advocates Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Limited – Appellant
Versus
The State of Telangana – Respondent
Writ Petition No.15078 of 2025
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Senior Counsel
For the Respondents: Government Pleader for Cooperation
The court upheld amendments to cooperative society bye-laws as valid based on members' quorum and statutory compliance, directing approval by the concerned authority.
Headnote:(A) Telangana Mutually Aided Co-operative Societies Act, 1995 - Sections 9, 10, 11, 16 - Writ of Mandamus - The petitioner challenged the non-approval of bye-law amendments aimed at compliance with the Act and inclusion of certain members. The court found that the amendments were proposed following required quorum and should be accepted. (Paras 2, 7, 8)
(B) Quorum Requirements - Court clarified that the absence of specified quorum in the petitioner’s bye-laws allows for amendments to follow the quorum of those present and voting. (Paras 5, 7)
Facts of the case:
Petitioner society formed in 1999 aimed to improve members’ welfare. It sought to amend bye-laws for representation from new Courts and inclusion of women and SC/ST members. The amendments were upheld due to fulfillment of quorum conditions.
Findings of Court:
The amendments were passed unanimously by present members, and the non-approval by the 2nd respondent was found improper. Court directed registration of amended bye-laws.
Issues: The main issues involved the interpretation of quorum provisions and appropriateness of the amendments proposed.
Ratio Decidendi: The court ruled amendments undertaken with proper quorum following precedent are valid, emphasizing statutory compliance and representation.
Result: The 2nd respondent directed to register the amended bye-laws.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. writ petition seeks declaration of amendment violations. (Para 1) |
| 2. amendments to bye-laws require proper representation. (Para 2 , 3) |
| 3. challenges to order based on quorum validity. (Para 4 , 5) |
| 4. court's authority in determining compliance with bye-law provisions. (Para 6 , 7) |
| 5. direction for registering amendments post-approval. (Para 8) |
O R D E R
In this Writ Petition, the petitioner is seeking a Writ of Mandamus declaring the impugned order of the 2nd respondent dt.07.05.2025 bearing R.C.No.3941/2024-MACS as violative of the Telangana Mutually Aided Co-operative Societies Act, 1995 and also in violation of principles of natural justice and also violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and to declare the same as non-est in law and to consequently direct the 2nd respondent to register the amendments made to the existing bye-laws of the petitioner society pursuant to the minutes of the meetings held by the petitioner in consonance with the Telangana Mutually Aided Co-operative Societies Act, 1995 and to pass such other order or orders.
2. Brief facts leading to the filing of the present Writ Petition are that the petitioner society was formed in the year 1999 with the objective of improving the economic and social betterment and welfare of its members, i.e., advocates through mutual aid, thrift and self help in accordance with the principle of cooperation as enunciated in Section 3 of the Telangana Mutually Aided Co-operative Societies Act, 1995 (for short, “the TMACS Act”). It was registered under the TMACS Act vide registration No.AMC/HYD(U) MACS-99(27) CREDIT and it has formulated its own bye-laws which have been approved by the Registrar and has been functioning in accordance therewith. It is stated that the society consists of a Board, which means Board of Directors of the society and the Committee of the society consists of the President, Vice- President, Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer and that the General Body shall in its annual election, elect 4 Directors, i.e., one each from amongst its 4 Constituencies every year for a period of 3 years so that there are 12 Directors of the Board at any given point of time. It is stated that recently, new Courts were established at Kukatpally, Medchal- Malkajgiri, Vikarabad due to reorganisation of Ranga Reddy District by the State Government apart from already existing civil Courts at Hyderabad and Secunderabad and Nampally and at L.B.Nagar, Ranga Reddy District and in order to give proper representation to the members from the newly formed Courts, the General Body meeting of the society was called for and amendments were proposed to bye-law No.2(ii), bye- law No.7, bye-law No.15(i) and bye-law No.17 for induction of two lady members and one member from SC/ST category to be in compliance with the amendments to TMACS Act vide G.O.Ms.No.28, Agriculture & Cooperation (Coop.II) Department, dt.19.04.2026 as well. It is stated that General Body meeting was held on 04.08.2024 which was attended by 1260 members who had passed a resolution to propose amendments in its special meeting to be called for the said purpose and subsequently the special General Body meeting was held on 03.11.2024 which was attended by 367 members and all of them unanimously approved the amendments to the bye-laws. Thereafter, the amendments were forwarded to the 2nd respondent for approval. However, the same was not approved on the ground that the total number of members of the society was 4971, out of which only 367 members have attended the meeting and therefore, the quorum of 1/10th of the total members was not met and therefore, the amendments proposed by the society were not in accordance with the provisions of the TMACS Act. Challenging the same, the present Writ Petition has been filed.
3. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner has reiterated the submissions made in the writ affidavit and submitted that Section 11 of TMACS Act provides for a quorum of
