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Karnataka High Court · body

2022 DIGILAW 1598 (KAR)

Jabeen v. Registrar Of Societies

2022-12-15

N.S.SANJAY GOWDA

body2022
JUDGMENT/ORDER 1. W.P.No.104928 of 2021 is preferred by the President of the society along with its members of the society challenging the communication dtd. 25/11/2021 issued by the District Registrar, by which, the District Registrar has purported to exercise the law available to him under Sec. 25 (2) (c)(i) of The Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred as 'the Act' for brevity) and has directed the convening of a meeting on 14/12/2021 to be held in his office and also prescribed the agenda and has called upon all the National Executive Council (hereinafter referred as 'NEC' for brevity) members to attend. 2. W.P. No.105344/2021 is also filed by the petitioners challenging the order dtd. 22/9/2021 passed by the District Registrar whereby the District Registrar has set-aside the order of suspension dtd. 13/5/2021 suspending Smt. B.K.Tanuja and Smt.Gayatri Shetty and ordered that they shall be entitled to continue the same position that they were holding before. 3. Learned Senior Counsel Shri J.S.Patil basically contended that the District Registrar had absolutely no jurisdiction to issue any direction to either convene a meeting and that too at his office. He submitted that the District Registrar had no jurisdiction to set-aside an order of suspension passed against two members in the exercise of the power under Sec. 25 of the Act. He submitted that Sec. 25 of the Act basically provided for holding an enquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition of a society and for the purposes of conducting an enquiry, certain powers had been conferred and ultimately, after the enquiry was made, the District Registrar was only obligated to communicate the result of the enquiry to the society concerned and also submit a report to the Government upon which the Government could appoint an administrator. He submitted that the power to hold an enquiry did not confer the power to issue a direction to either convene a meeting at the office of the District Registrar or to set-aside an order of suspension. 4. Shri Adesh Kumar, learned counsel for the contesting respondents, however, contended that the order passed by the District Registrar in these writ petitions were necessitated in view of the highhanded acts of the petitioners in refusing to avoid the mandate of the general body. 4. Shri Adesh Kumar, learned counsel for the contesting respondents, however, contended that the order passed by the District Registrar in these writ petitions were necessitated in view of the highhanded acts of the petitioners in refusing to avoid the mandate of the general body. He submitted that since, the petitioners were acting whimsically, the District Registrar who was duly bound to step in and ensure that order was maintained in the society. 5. In order to appreciate the contentions of the parties, an overview of the relevant provision would be necessary. Sec. 25 of the Act reads as follows; "(1) The Registrar may on his own motion and shall on the application of the majority to of the members of the governing body or of not less than one-third of the members of the society, hold an enquiry or direct some person authorised by him by order in writing in accordance with the rules made in this behalf to hold an enquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition of a registered society. (2) The Registrar or the person authorised by him under sub-sec. (1) shall have the following powers, namely, - (a) he shall, at all reasonable times, have free access to the books, accounts, documents, securities, cash and other properties belonging to or in the custody of the society and may summon any person in possession or responsible for the custody of any such books, accounts, documents securities, cash or other properties to produce the same at any place at the headquarters of the society or any branch thereof; (b) he may summon any person who, he has reason to believe, has knowledge of any of the affairs of the society to appear before him at any place at the headquarters of the society or any branch thereof and may examine such person on oath; (c) (i) he may, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any rule or regulation prescribing the period of notice for a general meeting of the society, require the governing body of the society to call a general meeting at such time and place at the headquarters of the society or any branch thereof and to determine such matters as may be directed by him. If the governing body of the society refuses or fails to call a meeting, he shall have power to call it himself; (ii) any meeting called under sub-clause (i) shall have all the powers of a general meeting called under the rules or regulations of the society and its proceedings shall be regulated by such rules or regulations; (iii) when an enquiry is made under this Sec., the Registrar shall communicate the result of the enquiry to the society concerned." 6. A plain reading of the said Sec. indicates that the Registrar has been conferred with the power to hold an enquiry or to direct some other person authorized by him to hold an enquiry. The enquiry would have to be in relation to the constitution, working and financial condition of a registered society. 7. Sub-sec. 2 of Sec. 25 of the Act confers certain powers on the Registrar or the person authorized by him in the matter of conducting an enquiry and the powers that have been conferred under sub-Sec. 2 are, the power to have free access to the records and assets of the society, the power to summon persons who were in possession of the records and also to summon and examine any person who has knowledge of the affairs of the society on oath. 8. Sec. 25(2)(c)(i) of the Act also confers power on the Registrar to require the Governing body to call a general meeting and to determine such matters as may be directed by him. If the governing body of the society refuses or fails to call a meeting, he would have the power to call the meeting. 9. Thus, essentially the Registrar, when he decides to hold an enquiry, either on his motion or on a complaint of not less than one-third of the members, has been empowered to conduct an enquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition of the Society and is empowered to have access not only the records by also summon any person to appear before him and examine such person. 10. 10. This is obviously to ensure that the Registrar gets to the truth of the matter and for this, he is also empowered to direct the governing body to call for a meeting (which in the normal course could be done only by the governing body or a specified office bearer) and if the governing body does not call for a general meeting, he has been empowered by himself to call a meeting. 11. On the conclusion of the enquiry, the Registrar is obliged to communicate the result of the enquiry to the concerned Society. This is obviously to ensure that the Society can take steps to remedy the defects discovered as a result of the enquiry. 12. The Registrar is also entitled to make a report to the Government after the enquiry on the basis of which the Government can appoint an administrator Nader Sec. 27A of the Act 13. Thus, the conduct of an enquiry under Sec. 25 is to discover the malady with the Society is suffering from and submit a report either to the Society to enable it to remedy it or it could result in the submission of a report to the Government, which could in turn appoint and administrator, which in turn could remedy the malady in the functioning of the Society. 14. However, in the instant case, it is to be noticed that no enquiry, as such, as contemplated under Sec. 25 of the Act had been undertaken by the Registrar or by any person authorized by him. As already held above, it is only if an enquiry as contemplated under Sec. 25(1) of the Act had been ordered, can the Registrar would have the power under Sec. 25(2) (c) (i) of the Act to call for a meeting. 15. The power available to the Registrar to call for a meeting under Sec. 25 (2) (c) of the Act is not a power independent of an enquiry. In other words, it is not a provision which can stand all alone by itself. This power to convene a meeting is a concomitant power of holding an enquiry under Sec. 25(1) of the Act. It is to be stated here that the Registrar or any person authorized by him, even assuming, an enquiry has been conducted, would not have the power to issue a direction in the matter of managing the affairs of the society. It is to be stated here that the Registrar or any person authorized by him, even assuming, an enquiry has been conducted, would not have the power to issue a direction in the matter of managing the affairs of the society. Thus, the power conferred under Sec. 25 is not an appellate power or revisional power to sit in judgment over the decisions taken by the Society. 16. In this view of the matter, the communication dtd. 25/11/2021 calling for a meeting which is ordered to be conducted in his office is totally without jurisdiction and cannot be sustained. 17. Similarly, the order dtd. 22/9/2021 setting aside an order of suspension made on 13/5/2021 in respect of two members and holding that they were entitled to continue as members as before cannot also be sustained. However, in the connected writ petition arising out of the refusal to grant an exparte interim order in a suit (W.P.No.100261/2022), the Society has conceded that the order of suspension shall remain stayed pending disposal of the suit and hence there would be no need to interfere with the order dtd. 22/9/2021. 18. As a consequence, only the order dtd. 22/9/2021 directing that a meeting be convened in the office of the District Registrar is quashed as being wholly without jurisdiction. 19. Consequently, W.P.No.104928/2021 is allowed. 20. W.P.No.105344/2021 is disposed off recording the statement of the Society that the order of suspension passed by the Society against two members, Smt. B.K.Tanuja and Smt. Gayatri Shetty, shall remain stayed pending disposal of O.S.No.34/2021 and they shall continue to be the members of the Society.