THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE T. MADHAVI DEVI WRIT PETITION NO.15078 OF 2025

O R D E R

In this Writ Petition, the petitioner is seeking a Writ of Mandamus declaring the impugned order of the 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 1/10^th 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 General Body meeting to three (3) major decisions, such as change of liability, transfer of assets and liabilities, division and amalgamation, as two-thirds of the members present and voting and therefore, when the General Body meeting was attended by 367 members and resolutions were pas