Ajay Public School Samiti, Sultanpur Thru. Manager Ms. Renu Jaiswal and Another Vs State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy., Institutional Finance, Lucknow and Others — Allahabad HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

Ajay Public School Samiti, Sultanpur Thru. Manager Ms. Renu Jaiswal and Another Vs State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy., Institutional Finance, Lucknow and Others — Allahabad HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Petition allowed partly at the admission stage itself: notice dated 29.09.2023 quashed (certiorari) so far as it pertains to clubbing and simultaneous hearing of the Section 12-D and Section 25(2) proceedings; Deputy Registrar at liberty to hear and decide both complaints separately; petitioner may raise preliminary objections under Section 12-D to be decided first; parties to bear their own costs.

Issue for consideration

Whether the Deputy Registrar could lawfully club the separate proceedings under Section 12-D and Section 25(2) of the Society Registration Act, 1860 and require a single combined reply and simultaneous hearing. +1 more

Court's answer

The provisions of Section 12-D of the Act and Section 25 of the Act are quite distinct and separate, and the complaints made by opposite party no.3 under the two provisions do not overlap.

Ratio / Principle

There was no occasion for the Deputy Registrar to have issued a single notice dated 29.09.2023 clubbing both complaints and proceedings.

Key takeaways

Notice dated 29.09.2023 is quashed by issuance of a writ in the nature of Certiorari so far as it pertains to clubbing and simultaneous hearing of proceedings under Section 12-D and Section 25(2) of the Act.ratio¶8
The Deputy Registrar shall be at liberty to hear and decide both complaints in separate and distinct proceedings.ratio¶9
For determination of proceedings under Section 12-D, the petitioner is granted liberty to raise all preliminary objections, which shall be decided prior to deciding the entire complaint under Section 12-D of the Act.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Writ - C No. 861 of 2024 (Manish Mathur, J., High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, order dated 01.02.2024): Notices under the Society Registration Act, 1860 — opposite party no.3 filed two separate complaints, dated 06.10.2021 under Section 25(2) and dated 11.09.2022 under Section 12-D; the Deputy Registrar, by notice dated 29.09.2023, clubbed both proceedings and required a combined reply with simultaneous hearing. Held: the provisions of Section 12-D and Section 25 are 'quite distinct and separate' and the complaints do not overlap, so there was no occasion to club them. Notice dated 29.09.2023 quashed by writ of certiorari so far as it pertains to such clubbing and simultaneous hearing; the Deputy Registrar may hear and decide both complaints in separate proceedings, and the petitioner may raise preliminary objections under Section 12-D, to be decided prior to the entire complaint. Petition allowed partly at the admission stage; parties to bear their own costs.

Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC-LKO:9319

Court No. - 17

Case :- WRIT - C No. - 861 of 2024 Petitioner :- Ajay Public School Samiti, Sultanpur Thru. Manager Ms. Renu Jaiswal And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy., Institutional Finance, Lucknow And Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sharad Pathak Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.

Hon'ble Manish Mathur,J.

Heard learned counsel for petitioners, learned State Counsel for opposite parties no.1 and 2 and Mr. Virendra Mishra, learned counsel for opposite party no.3 whose power filed today in Court is taken on record.

Petition has been filed challenging notice dated 07.08.2023 issued under Section 12-D of the Society Registration Act, 1860. Also under challenge is notice dated 29.09.2023 fixing a date for hearing while clubbing the proceedings under Section 12-D of the Act alongwith those of Section 25 (2) of the said Act.

Learned counsel for petitioner submits that the proceedings under both the provisions are completely separate and therefore those were no occasion for the authority concerned to have clubbed both the proceedings particularly when even the complaint filed by opposite party no.3 regarding Section 12-D of the Act has no allegation made under Section 25 of the Act.

It has also been submitted that prior to issuance of notice under Section 12-D of the Act, it was incumbent upon authority concerned to have applied his mind to the allegations levelled against the Society instead of issuing notice in a routine manner.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of opposite parties have made their submission on the basis of factual aspects but admit that both the proceedings are separate.

Upon consideration of submissions advanced by learned counsel for parties and perusal of material on record, it is evident that opposite party no.3 has filed separate complaints under both the provisions with complaint dated 06.10.2021 having been filed with regard to Section 25(2) of the Act and the complaint dated 11.09.2022 having been filed under Section 12-D of the Act.

It appears that by means of notice dated 29.09.2023, the Deputy Registrar has clubbed both the issues and has required

petitioner to submit his reply to both whereby it appears that proceedings would be held and decided simultaneously. The provisions of Section 12-D of the Act and Section 25 of the Act are quite distinct and separate. Even the complaint made by opposite party no.3 do not have any overlapping with regard to the aforesaid sections. Therefore there was no occasion for the Deputy Registrar to have issued a single notice dated 29.09.2023 clubbing both complaints and proceedings.

In view of aforesaid, notice dated 29.09.2023 is hereby quashed by issuance of a writ in the nature of Certiorari so far as it pertains to clubbing and simultaneous hearing of proceedings under Section 12-D and Section 25(2) of the Act.

Deputy Registrar shall be at liberty to hear and decide both complaints in a separate and distinct proceeding. For the purposes of determination of proceedings under Section 12-D of the Act, liberty is granted to petitioner to raise all preliminary objection which shall be decided prior to deciding the entire complaint under Section 12-D of the Act.

In view of aforesaid, petition succeeds and is allowed partly at the admission stage itself . Parties to bear their own costs.

Order Date : - 1.2.2024 Subodh/-

Digitally signed by :- SUBODH KUMAR SINGH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench