Disposed

Rev. Tella John Kennedy v. State of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh HC8 Feb 2023WP/17821/2022

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The Court disposed of multiple writ and criminal petitions regarding internal disputes and election complications within the Jewett Memorial Baptist Church. Due to complex factual disputes regarding the Standing Committee membership, the Court directed parties to approach the appropriate forum under Section 23 of the Public Societies Registration Act, 2001, while maintaining interim protections fo

What did the court decide?

Liberty granted to petitioners to approach the appropriate forum under Section 23 of the Public Societies Registration Act, 2001; interim arrangements continued for four weeks.

Rev. Tella John Kennedy Vs State of Andhra… — Writ and Judicial Review | Andhra Pradesh HC (2023)

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HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO

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WRIT PETITION Nos.25781 of 2021 and Crl.P.Nos.9650, 9651 & 9653 of 2022, W.P.Nos. 36604, 4800, 6616, 13617, 17821, 19261, 19735, 23106, 34374, 40424 of 2022

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COMMON ORDER:

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The Jewett Memorial Baptist Church, Ongole was established in the year 1866. It was registered as a Public Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It would now be regulated by the Public Societies Regulation Act, 2002. The Church is managed through a Standing Committee which is an elected body consisting of 13 members. These 13 members elect a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, from amongst themselves. Apart from this, a draw is conducted, periodically, for selecting Deacons from amongst the sitting members as on the date of the draw. The members, who are selected as Deacons get an additional period of one year beyond the original period given to the said member. In this manner, 7 of the members are selected as Deacons.

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Apart from these office bearers, the Church also appoints certain persons as Pastors. These Pastors are paid employees of the Church.

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The activities and functions of the Church were

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conducted without any dispute till the year 2018. Thereafter, various disputes have arisen between the members of the Church as well as the members of the elected Standing Committee.

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The said disputes initially resulted in filing of S.R.O.P.No.6 of 2017 on the file of I Additional District Judge, Ongole, which is pending. One of the interlocutory proceedings in the said case also resulted in C.R.P.No.4848 of 2018 before this Court, which has been disposed of.

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During the pendency of these proceedings, the disputes between the members of the Church, including certain disputes between the members of the Church and Sri D.John Augustine, a Pastor of the Church has resulted in a situation where conduct of normal prayers and other activities of the Church cannot be performed peacefully. The Sunday sermon has become a bone of contention between the warring groups. It also appears that criminal complaints have also been filed on account of physical altercations between the members of the Church.

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In view of these developments, the present set of

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Writ Petitions and Criminal Petitions have come to be filed from time to time. The details of the Writ Petitions and Criminal Petitions filed in this connection and the reliefs sought are detailed below:

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Sl.No.	W.P.No.	Relief
1.	W.P.No.40424/2022	Questioning the action of the 4^th respondent/SHO in not granting police Aid to the petitioner’s society for conducting the elections of the Jewett Memorial Baptist Church, Ongole, Prakasam District in terms of the Notification dated 03.11.2022 and consequently direct the respondents to grant police aid to the petitioner Society for performing to conducting elections for the JMB Church, Ongole in terms of the Notification dated 03.11.2022.
2.	W.P.No.36604/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents 2 to 5 / official respondents in not cooperating and in not allowing the petitioner being the Pr4esident / chairman and Pastor of JMB Church, Ongole to conduct elections to its executive committee at the instance of respondents 6 and 7 who are claiming and fighting each other as the Secretaries of the said church without there being any valid tenure and without considering the welfare of the church its staff and the devotees and leavingthe church un-

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	functioned by making the devotees to conduct prayers in the open space available in the church premises as arbitrary, illegal unjust colorable exercise of power, showing favouritism, contrary to the orders of this Hon’ble Court in C.R.P.No.4898 of 2018 apart from being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and to consequently direct the respondent 2 to 5 not to interfere with the affairs of the church i.e., selection or election of the executive committee by the petitioner and to provide police protection to the petitioner while discharging the functions as president/chairman and pastor of Jewett Memorial Baptist JMB Church, Ongole in conducting such election.
3. W.P.No.34374/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents 2 to 6 in interfering with the activities of the petitioners as Standing Committee Members of the 7^threspondent Church and objecting the activities of the petitioners as arbitrary illegal unjust colourable exercise of power showing favouritism apart from being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents not to interfere with the petitioners activities as Standing Committee members of the Church.
4. W.P.No.23106/2022	Questioning the action of the 4^th respondent in not granting police aid to the petitioner society and its standing committee members for counting the offerings of the Devotees and the administration of the standing committee members of the Jewett

functioned by making the devotees to
conduct prayers in the open space
available in the church premises as
arbitrary,
illegal
unjust
colorable
exercise
of
power,
showing
favouritism, contrary to the orders of
this Hon’ble Court in C.R.P.No.4898 of
2018 apart from being violative of
Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution
of India and to consequently direct the
respondent 2 to 5 not to interfere with
the affairs of the church i.e., selection
or election of the executive committee
by the petitioner and to provide police
protection to the petitioner while
discharging
the
functions
as
president/chairman
and
pastor
of
Jewett Memorial Baptist JMB Church,
Ongole in conducting such election.

3.
W.P.No.34374/2022

Questioning
the
action
of
the
respondents 2 to 6 in interfering with
the activities of the petitioners as
Standing Committee Members of the
7^threspondent Church and objecting
the activities of the petitioners as
arbitrary
illegal
unjust
colourable
exercise of power showing favouritism
apart from being violative of Articles
14 and 21 of the constitution of India
and
consequently
direct
the
respondents not to interfere with the
petitioners
activities
as
Standing
Committee members of the Church.

4.
W.P.No.23106/2022

Questioning the action of the 4^th
respondent in not granting police aid
to the petitioner society and its
standing
committee
members
for
counting the offerings of the Devotees
and the administration of the standing
committee members of the Jewett

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	Memorial Church, Ongole, Prakasam District inspite of report submitted by the respondent to 4^threspondent to 4^th respondent as arbitrary illegal failure to exercise power violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents 4 to 6 to grant police protection to the petitioner Society and its Standing Committee Members for performing the activities of the Church.
5. W.P.No.19735/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents in not providing police protection to the petitioner/Treasurer of Jewett Memorial Baptist Church, Trunk Road, Ongole Prakasam District based on the representation submitted by the petitioner dated 16.05.2022 for releasing the ceased amount which was ceased by the petitioner as highly illegal, arbitrary, violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the 4^threspondent to provide police protection to the petitioner to release the ceased amount by considering the representation submitted by the petitioner dated 16.05.2022.
6. W.P.No.19261/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents in interfering with conducting Sunday morning worship by the petitioner on pulpit in the Jewett Memorial Baptist Church by the respondents as illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and consequently direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to perform the Sunday morning worship in the J.M.B. Church.

Memorial Church, Ongole, Prakasam
District inspite of report submitted by
the respondent to 4^threspondent to 4^th
respondent as arbitrary illegal failure
to exercise power violative of Articles
14 and 21 of the Constitution of India
and
consequently
direct
the
respondents 4 to 6 to grant police
protection to the petitioner Society and
its Standing Committee Members for
performing
the
activities
of
the
Church.

5.
W.P.No.19735/2022

Questioning
the
action
of
the
respondents in not providing police
protection to the petitioner/Treasurer
of Jewett Memorial Baptist Church,
Trunk Road, Ongole Prakasam District
based on the representation submitted
by the petitioner dated 16.05.2022 for
releasing the ceased amount which
was ceased by the petitioner as highly
illegal, arbitrary, violative of Article 14
and 21 of the Constitution of India and
consequently direct the 4^threspondent
to provide police protection to the
petitioner
to
release
the
ceased
amount
by
considering
the
representation
submitted
by
the
petitioner dated 16.05.2022.

6.
W.P.No.19261/2022

Questioning
the
action
of
the
respondents
in
interfering
with
conducting Sunday morning worship
by the petitioner on pulpit in the
Jewett Memorial Baptist Church by
the respondents as illegal, arbitrary,
unconstitutional
and
consequently
direct the respondents to permit the
petitioner to perform the Sunday
morning
worship
in
the
J.M.B.
Church.

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7. W.P.No.17821/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents 2 to 4 in not considering the representation dated 19.04.2022, 18.05.2022 and 21.05.2022 of the petitioner to provide police protection to him while discharging the functions as pastor of the J.M.B.Church and to the other standing committee members in performing their respective duties as arbitrary, illegal, unjust, colourable exercise of power, showing favouritism, contrary to the order of this Hon’ble Court in W.P.No.12449 of 2022 and modified order in I.A.No.1 of 2019 in C.R.P.No.4898 of 2018 dated 30.04.2022 and directions in W.P.No.25781 of 2021 apart from being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and Consequently direct the respondents to provide police protection to the petitioner while discharging the functions as pastor in JMB Church and to the other standing committee members in performing their respective duties specifically while preaching on Sundays from pulpit.
8. W.P.No.13617/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents 2 to 5 in interfering with the activities of the petitioner as pastor of the JMB Church, Ongole instead of granting police protection to the petitioner and the standing committee members of the Church for performing the activities of the Church as arbitrary, illegal, unjust, colourable exercise of power, showing favouritism contrary to the directions of the Hon’ble Court and to consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 to

7.
W.P.No.17821/2022

Questioning
the
action
of
the
respondents 2 to 4 in not considering
the representation dated 19.04.2022,
18.05.2022 and 21.05.2022 of the
petitioner to provide police protection
to him while discharging the functions
as pastor of the J.M.B.Church and to
the
other
standing
committee
members
in
performing
their
respective duties as arbitrary, illegal,
unjust, colourable exercise of power,
showing favouritism, contrary to the
order
of
this
Hon’ble
Court
in
W.P.No.12449 of 2022 and modified
order
in
I.A.No.1
of
2019
in
C.R.P.No.4898
of
2018
dated
30.04.2022
and
directions
in
W.P.No.25781 of 2021 apart from
being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of
the
Constitution
of
India
and
Consequently direct the respondents
to provide police protection to the
petitioner
while
discharging
the
functions as pastor in JMB Church
and to the other standing committee
members
in
performing
their
respective
duties specifically while
preaching on Sundays from pulpit.

8.
W.P.No.13617/2022

Questioning
the
action
of
the
respondents 2 to 5 in interfering with
the activities of the petitioner as pastor
of the JMB Church, Ongole instead of
granting
police
protection
to
the
petitioner and the standing committee
members of the Church for performing
the
activities
of
the
Church
as
arbitrary, illegal, unjust, colourable
exercise of power, showing favouritism
contrary to the directions of the
Hon’ble Court and to consequently
direct the respondents 2 to 4 to

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		provide police protection to the petitioner while discharging the functions as pastor.
9.	W.P.No.6616/2022	Questioning the action of the respondents 2 to 4 in interfering with the activities of the petitioners as Standing Committee members of the 4^threspondent Church and objecting the activities of the petitioners as arbitrary, illegal, unjust, colourable exercise of power, showing favouritism contrary to the directions of the Hon’ble Court apart from being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 not to interfere with the petitioners activities as Standing Committee Members of the JMB Church.
10.	W.P.No.4800/2022	Questing the action of the respondents 2 to 4 in interfering with the activities of the petitioner as Secretary of the JMB Church, at the instance of 5^th respondent and not allowing newly elected Standing Committee members to perform the activities of the Church as arbitrary, illegal, unjust, colourable exercise of power, showing favouritism contrary to the directions of the Hon’ble Court apart from being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 not to interfere with the petitioners management of affairs of said Church.
11.	W.P.No.25781/2022	Questioning the action of the 4^th respondent in notgranting police

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		protection to the petitioner society its Standing Committee Member performing the activities of the Ch in spite of submitting represent dated 18.10.2021 as arbitrary, ill unjust, colourable exercise of po showing favouritism contrary to directions of the Hon’ble Court a from being violative of Articles 14 21 of the Constitution of India consequently direct the responden to 4 to grant police protection to petitioner society and its stan committee members for performin activities of the Church.	and s for urch ation egal, wer, the part and and ts 2 the ding g the
12.	Crl.P.No.9650/2022	To quash the proceedings MC.No.F/06 of 2022 of the Divisional Magistrate Court, On Prakasam District in so far petitioners are concerned.	in Sub gole, as
13.	Crl.P.No.9651/2022	To quash the proceedings MC.No.F/06 of 2022 of the Divisional Magistrate Court, On Prakasam District in so far petitioners are concerned.	in Sub gole, as
14.	Crl.P.No.9653/2022	To quash the proceedings MC.No.F/06 of 2022 of the Divisional Magistrate Court, On Prakasam District in so far petitioners are concerned.	in Sub gole, as

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While matters stood thus, a notification has been

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issued for conduct of elections, for the vacant posts, in the Standing Committee. This election is also disputed in the

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course of arguments before this Court. It may be noted that there is no specific writ petition or other proceedings initiated against the said election.

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Heard Sri G.R.Sudhakar, learned counsel for the petitioner in W.P.No.40424 of 2022, Sri S.Ganesh Babu, learned counsel for the petitioner in W.P.Nos.25781 of 2021, 6616 of 2022, Crl.P.No.9650 of 2022, 9651 of 2022, 9653 of 2022, W.P.No.17821 of 2022, 23106 of 2022 and W.P.No.34374 of 2022 and Sri E.V.V.S.Ravi Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner in W.P.No.4800 of 2022 and Sri K.Jyothi Prasad, learned counsel for the petitioner in W.P.No.36604 of 2022 and W.P.No.13617 of 2022.

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In all the above Writ Petitions and Criminal

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Petitions, the central question that keeps recurring is the question of the composition of the Standing Committee. It is agreed by both sides that the positions of 4 members are vacant. Apart from this, the position of Secretary and Treasurer is also vacant. The clients of Sri S. Ganesh Babu and Sri G.R.Sudhkar contend that 7 positions of members are occupied with 3 members completing their tenure on 31.12.2023 and 4 members completing their tenure on

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31.12.2024. The clients of Sri K.Jyothi Prasad and Sri E.V.V.S.Ravi Kumar dispute this and contend that elections should be held for even these 7 posts of members as the persons shown to have been elected for these 7 posts were not elected properly. They also contend that there is a parallel committee which is the actual committee which should be running the Church.

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The submissions made in the course of the arguments on both sides show that there are complicated questions of fact including the questions of whether the assertion of the clients of Sri S. Ganesh Babu and Sri G.R.Sudhkar, that they are elected members of the Standing Committee had been accepted by the clients of Sri K.Jyothi Prasad and Sri E.V.V.S.Ravi Kumar. The Minutes Book and the Attendance Register of the Standing Committee have also been produced before this Court for the purpose of demonstrating that the clients of Sri K.Jyothi Prasad and Sri E.V.V.S.Ravi Kumar had signed the attendance register and

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the Minutes Book of meetings in which the clients of Sri S. Ganesh Babu and Sri G.R.Sudhkar were also shown as

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members of the Standing Committee. The signatures in the

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said Minutes Book and Attendance Register are disputed and denied by the clients of Sri K.Jyothi Prasad and Sri E.V.V.S.Ravi Kumar.

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In the aforesaid circumstances, it would not be possible for this Court to go into the question of who are the properly elected members of the Standing Committee. It would also be appropriate that such complicated questions should be raised before the appropriate forum, under the provisions of Section 23 of the Public Societies Registration Act, 2001.

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In the circumstances, this Court has no option except to dispose of these cases by granting liberty to the petitioners to approach the appropriate forum under Section 23 of the Public Societies Registration Act, 2001.

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Needless to say, all the interim arrangements made under the above writ petitions, which are in force today, shall continue to remain in force for a period of four weeks to enable the respective petitioners to take appropriate steps for approaching the appropriate Forum.

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Accordingly, both the Writ Petitions and Criminal

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Petitions are disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.

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As a sequel, pending miscellaneous petitions, if any, shall

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stand closed.

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____________________________ R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO, J.

09.02.2023

RJS

72.

HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO

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WRIT PETITION Nos.25781 of 2021 and Crl.P.Nos.9650, 9651 & 9653 of 2022, W.P.Nos. 36604, 4800, 6616, 13617, 17821, 19261, 19735, 23106, 34374, 40424 of 2022

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09-02-2023

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RJS

Rev. Tella John Kennedy v. State of Andhra Pradesh

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Rev. Tella John Kennedy v. State of Andhra Pradesh

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