A.K. Toranagatti vs The State of Karnataka

Anand Byrareddy, J.—The petition is considered for final disposal at the stage of preliminary hearing in the ''B'' group.

The 1st petitioner claims to be the Secretary and member and other petitioners are stated to be the members of a Society registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as ''the K.S.R. Act'', for brevity), known as Katakol Vidyavaradhaka Samithi at Katakol, Ramdurg Taluk, Belgaum District. The Society runs Educational Institutions. It has 173 members on its rolls. It elects 17 members to its Managing Committee for a term of three years and amongst them, a president is elected directly and so also a Vice President and a Honorary Secretary. The Secretary acts as the correspondent of the Society.

It is stated that one Bhoopalapur claimed to be the Secretary of the Samithi in collusion with one Sri Sachidananda Swamiji Virakatrnath who claimed as President, were acting against the interest of the Samithi and were claiming to be parallely managing the Society and were indulging in several malpractices including manipulations of the records. Therefore, a writ petition was filed by the 1st petitioner herein, seeking to quash the communication of the 1st respondent - Deputy Registrar dated 19.08.2011 and 12.01.2012, by which the aforesaid were declared as Secretary and President of the Society. It was also sought that an enquiry be conducted under Section 25 of the K.S.R. Act in respect of the functioning of the Society. However, many representations made in this behalf were not considered. In turn, the members of the Society had also filed writ petitions, one of which was Writ Petition No. 76561/2013, seeking quashing of registration of the Society, on the ground that there was already a Society existing in the name of ''Katkol Vidyavaradhaka Society'' and therefore, the registration of the Samithi was contrary to the provisions of the Act.

It is in this background that two persons aforesaid namely Bhoopalapur and Sri Sachidananda Swamiji Virakatmath intended to form a new Managing Committee and are-said to have passed a resolution dated 04.03.2013 along with audit reports for the previous three years namely 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12. The petitioners had strongly objected to the said resolution on various grounds, including the circumstance that there were several writ petitions pending before this Court as regards the functioning and management of the Society. The 2nd respondent on consideration of the said circumstances is said to have issued an endorsement rejecting the proposal of Bhoopalapur to hold an election for formation of a new Managing Committee. The earlier elected body was for a term of three years which was expired on 02.03.2013.

In that view of the matter, since in view of rejection of the proposal to hold an election as proposed by Bhoopalapur and another, the Society is without any management and is left rudderless and hence the petitioners have made a request for appointment of an Administrator to the Society in the interregnum under Section 27(A) of the K.S.R. Act, which has been negated and therefore, the petitioners are before this Court.

Given the circumstances of the case, where the 2nd respondent - the Registrar of Societies has, on enquiry, found that the audit reports were irregular and that the election proposed was also not feasible, till such time that an election is conducted in accordance with law and Managing Committee is in place, it would be necessary for an Administrator to be appointed in terms of Section 27(A) of the K.S.R. Act.

Accordingly, the petition is allowed.

The respondent No. 1 is directed to appoint an Administrator to the Katakol Vidyavaradhaka Samithi, Katakol pending resolution of all disputes that may be pending and the holding of an election to the Managing Committee, or on such other terms as is deemed fit in the circumstances of the case. The said appointment shall be made forthwith, in any event within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.