JUDGMENT Rakesh Tiwari, J.
1. Heard counsel for the parties and perused the record.
2. This writ petition has been filed for issuance of a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the order dated 8.12.2005 passed by respondent No. 4, Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow (Annexure-12 to the writ petition).
3. By the impugned order the Registrar has directed the Assistant Registrar to hold elections of Committee of Management in pursuance of the directions of this Court vide judgment dated 9.4.2004. The election is sought to be held on basis of list of members of the committee, which is said to have been elected in undisputed elections on 30.9.1995. According to the petitioners the list of 1995 is disputed whereas the respondents case is that it is undisputed and there is no illegality in the order impugned.
4. Brief facts of the case are that Krishak Sangh Uchauri is a registered Society, which runs the Institution known as Kedar Narain Krishak Inter College, Uchauri, Ghazipur. The society is run by its byelaws and the institution is run as per the scheme of administration.
5. It is alleged by the counsel for the petitioners that according to the byelaws of the society, the term of the office bearer of the society is three years. However, as per the provisions of the byelaws of the society, the general members of the society would elect office bearers of the society and Sanchalan Mandal would elect the office bearers of the committee of management of the Institution.
6. It is submitted that earlier the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi had not agreed to hold election in pursuance of the list of year, 1995 on the ground that there was a written objection filed by the then Manager Kuber Nath Singh interalia that the list of the members of the general body of the society of year, 1995 is not available, the college record was stolen and new elections are sought to be held on basis of list of members of 1995 at the instance of Rajendra Prasad Pandey with the help of one Shiv Poojan Rai, who was working as a Clerk in the institution. It is further submitted that after the death of Ram Kishore Singh who died on 2.7.1992, Shiv Poojan Rai by misusing his position removed the entire record of the society which include the list of the members of general body of the society, attendance register, dispatch register, counterfoil of the membership and receipt subscription. It is also stated that when Kuber Nath Singh was elected Manager on 17.2.98 information was given to P.S. Kanpur, District Ghazipur and information is also said to have been sent to the District Inspector of Schools, Ghazipur on 25.9.1998.
7. It is stated that an application was submitted on 8.4.2000 under the Mangership of Kuber Nath Singh for renewal of registration of the society, which was pending renewal. In the mean time, the election of the office bearers of the society was held on 10.12.2000 in which Ram Kunwar Singh was elected as President, Ram Lakhan Singh was elected as Vice President and another Ram Lakhan Singh was elected as Mantri, Jai Prakash Singh was elected as Sahayak Mantri, Lok Nath Singh was elected as Aaya Vyaya Nirikshak and Hari Shanker Tiwari was elected as Koshadhyakash. The election was recognized by the D.I.O.S. vide his order dated 12.12.2000.
8. During the pendency of the renewal application, respondent No. 3 had applied for renewal on the basis of different list of the office bearers of the society. The Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi visited the institution to verify the list of general member of the society and constituted a sub-committee of 17 members from the members of the general body of the society to verify the list in pursuance of the order of Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi dated 17.6.2001. The sub-committee verified the list of the general members of the society and submitted its report on 2.7.2001.
9. The Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi sought the legal opinion from the District Government counsel, who submitted its report on 20.8.2001 opining that list of 118 members is pending under consideration before the High Court, hence if the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi is satisfied with the list of the members of year, 1995 he can hold the election. The Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi was not satisfied with the opinion of District Government Counsel, prima facie he was not satisfied with the list of the members of year 1995, hence the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi passed the order on 29.8.2001 not to hold any election till the validity of the members of the general body of the society is pending before this Court.
10. The order dated 29.8.2001 was challenged in writ petition No. 32428 of 2001 by one Ram Gopal Singh on behalf of the committee of management also impleading Kuber Nath Singh as opposite party No. 2 and Rajendra Prasad Pandey as opposite party No. 3 in the petition. The Court vide judgment dated 26.10.2002 quashed the order of the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi dated 29.8.2001 and directed for holding fresh election.
11. In pursuance of the judgment of the Court dated 26.10.2002 the matter was ceased before the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi. Objections to the alleged list of 1995 were filed before the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi on 21.8.2003 stating that the said list relating to the members of the general body of the society was highly disputed, forged, fictitious and manipulated one prepared in collusion with Shiv Poojan Rai. The Assistant Registrar by his order dated 25.8.2003 held electoral roll of 14 members of the general body of the society to be valid.
12. The aforesaid order dated 25.8.2003 was challenged by Kuber Nath Singh as well as opposite party No. 3 in writ petition Nos. 46411 of 2003 and 39354 of 2003. The High Court vide its judgment dated 9.4.2004 quashed the order of the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi dated 24.8.2003 and directed him to rehear the matter after providing opportunity of hearing to both the parties and pass a fresh reasoned and speaking order within a period of two months from the date of the judgment. In pursuance of the judgment of this Court dated 9,4.2004 the matter was taken up by the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Societies and Chits, Varanasi Region, Varanasi before whom objection was filed on 21.6.2005.
13. Subsequently, the matter was ceased by the Registrar, respondent No. 4 on a complaint made by Sri Kuber Nath Singh. After giving an opportunity of hearing to the parties the Registrar passed the impugned order dated 8.12.2005 which is said to have been passed in a mechanical manner contrary to the direction given by this Court in judgment dated 9.4.2004.
14. By the impugned order the Registrar has held that in view of the judgment dated 9.4.2006 in writ petition No. 46411 of 2003 the Assistant Registrar was directed to immediately hold election of the committee of management as the term of committee of management has expired and it is no longer in existence. The order is as under:
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15. It appears from the above order that last undisputed election was held on 30.5.1995 in which Sri Ram Gopal Singh and Sri Kuber Nath Singh were elected as President and Manager of the Society. Fresh elections were again held in 1998 in which Sri Ram Gopal Singh and respondent No. 3 Rajendra Prasad Pandey were elected as President and Manager of the college
16. The counsel for the petitioners submits apart from the fact that the impugned order dated 8.12.2005 is contrary to the directions of this Court dated 9.4.2004; that respondent No. 4 has not given any reason as to how the list of the year 1995 is undisputed as apparently there is dispute about the list of the year 1995 being fictitious. It is submitted that in the circumstances, the impugned order is perverse and beyond the pleadings of the parties, hence it is liable to be set aside.
17. The counsel for the respondents urged that after being elected as Manager of the college, respondent No. 3 submitted papers before the Assistant Registrar for renewal of the Registration Certificate of the society. The earlier Manager Sri Kuber Nath Singh with malafide intentions submitted a forged list of members of general body of the society of 1975 in which names of the life members were also excluded and names of his relatives were included. It is further stated that on account of submission of forged list of members by Sri Kuber Nath Singh a series of litigation started in the committee of management and no election could be recognized and the term of office bearers of the society in the mean time also expired, hence the Assistant Registrar was only competent to hold election of the society as provided under Section 25(2) of the Societies Registration Act. It is also stated that in the last undisputed election held in 1995 there were 115 members. Subsequently 12 members died. In their places 5 new members have been enrolled and thus there are total 108 members of the general body. The Registrar has simply directed that election of the Society should be held from the members who were members in 1995. He further submits that since the election has been directed to be held on the basis of undisputed list of members existing in 1995, the impugned order does not warrant interference by this Court at the instance of the petitioners who have no locus standi as they are neither effected nor aggrieved by the impugned order dated 8.12.2005 passed by the Registrar. It is stated that any person(s) who claims himself to be member(s) of the society can approach competent Civil Court to get himself declared as genuine members but election process can not be stopped merely on such objection. The counsel for the respondents also submits that the validity of members cannot be adjudicated upon or decided by this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and for such relief only Civil Court is proper forum. The writ petition being misconceived and not maintainable is liable to be dismissed with costs.
18. I am of the opinion that writ is not maintainable as highly disputed grounds of facts are involved. I am supported in my view by judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court rendered in 2006 (109) FLR 223 Himmat Singh v. State of Haryana and Ors. wherein in paragraph 11 of the judgment it has been held that only question of law can he raised and not statement of facts and that "whether statements of the appellants or the respondents were correct or not could not ordinarily be decided in a writ jurisdiction. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has further held that it is well known that in writ petition ordinarily such a disputed question of fact could not be entertained." In the backdrop of this case it is imperative that elections are held and the college is managed by committee of management elected by democratic process. By the order dated 8.12.2005 directions have been issued to the Assistant Registrar to hold the election immediately. The election process had begun which is to be brought to its logical end. It cannot be delayed merely because there is a series of litigants between some persons. No person can be permitted to throw spanner as a "Monkey wrench" in the process of election already begun under orders of the Court. The parties have come up several times in writ petitions on one ground or another hampering election of committee of management when its term has admittedly expired long back.
19. The disputed questions of facts in my opinion can be best settled in the circumstances, in civil court; hence if any person is aggrieved by the election held in pursuance of the directions of this Court in W.P. No. 46411 of 2003 and consequent impugned order of the Registrar dated 8.12.2005, he may file suit election petition as has been held by Division Bench of the Court in (1993) 2 UPLBEC 1333 Basant Prasad Srivastava and Ors. v. State of U.P. and Ors.
20. For the reasons stated above, the writ petition is dismissed.