THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.BHASKAR REDDY
WRIT PETITION No.25364 of 2023
ORDER:
This Writ Petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is filed by the petitioner, seeking the following relief:
"...to issue a Writ Order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondent No.1 in issuing the Election Notice vide RC.No.Rly. CCS/ Elections/RO/3/8/2023 dt.28/08/2023 for conducting general Credit Society Ltd to be held on 10/10/2023 for the Headquarters members and on 12/10/2023 for the line members without considering the objections raised by the petitioner vide letter dt 14/07/2023 and without revising the voter list as illegal Arbitrary Violative of Principles of natural justice and against all settled principles of law and consequently set aside the same by directing the respondent No 2 to consider the objections raised by the Petitioner vide letter dt.14/07/2023 and the other members of respondent No.1 society and there upon issue fresh election notification.."
2. It is the case of the petitioner that respondent No.1/society was established in the year 1923 to provide aid and assistance towards financial needs of its shareholders in the South Central Railway zone. The Society functions with the support of 21 Board of Directors. The Directors are elected by vote from their respective constituencies and each one of the Director in turn heads his respective group of delegates who provide to the timely need of the shareholders. The respondent No.1/society is having 19 number of constituencies with respective jurisdictions in and across the State of Telangana and State of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa. The petitioner 2 herein claims to be one of the employee of the Respondent No.1/society and has been working as a Travelling Ticket Inspector for the Secunderabad Division vide CMTD No.181150 since the year 2010. It is further case of the petitioner that respondent No.1/Society has issued Circular vide No.CCS/14/Elections/VL/ 2023 dt.02.06.2023 informing the members of the society about the draft voters list as on 30.03.2023 available in the SCRECSS Website. In the said circular it was further mentioned that for any objections/suggestions from the members for the rectification of their CMTD No., i.e, Name of the voter, Name of the father/husband, Address, Pay Bill Unit No., PF No., or any other discrepancy in the draft voters list should be brought to the notice of the respondent No.1 society on or before 10.06.2023 and the final voter list after rectification will be uploaded on the website of the respondent No.1 society from 12.06.2023. In continuation of the above circular, the respondent No.1 has issued another circular vide No.CCS/14/Elections/VL/1/2023 dt.12.06.2023 for the rectification of the Station Code and for any other discrepancy in the draft voter list and the same can be brought to the notice of the respondent No.1 society on or before 15.06.2023. Subsequently, the respondent No.1 society has issued another circular vide No.CCS/14/Elections/VL/2/2023 dt.07.07.2023 3 requesting the members to submit their objections/suggestions before 14.07.2023. It is further case of the petitioner that after issuance of circulars, the respondent No.1/society has uploaded the draft voter list in the website portal on 07.07.2023 and various members of the respondent No.1/Society raised their objections from 11.07.2023 and the petitioner also made a representation on 14.07.2023 to the respondent No.1/Society enclosing the list of irregularities and discrepancies in the draft voter list dated 07.07.2023 and requested respondent No.1 not to furnish the final voters list unless and until it is finalized without irregularities and discrepancies. It is further case of the petitioner that inspite of objections/suggestions made by the petitioner and members of the respondent No.1/society, the respondent No.1 has issued voter list on 24.08.2023 mentioning constituency wise number of voters and list of number of delegates without amending or making any modification as per the objections of the petitioner and the members of the respondent No.1/society, which is illegal and arbitrary. It is further case of the petitioner that again on 25.07.2023 he addressed a letter to the respondent No.1/society requesting not to issue the final voters list to the respondent No.2 unless and until the same is prepared without any irregularities and discrepancies. However, the respondent No.2 issued the 4 election notice vide R.C.No.Rly.CCS/Elections/RO/3/8/2023 dated 28.08.2023 for conducting general body elections of Delegates of respondent No.1/society, scheduled to be held on 10.10.2023 for the Headquarters members and on 12.10.2023 for the line members.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently contended that issuance of election notice dated 28.08.2023 by the respondent No.2 vide R.C.No.Rly.CCS/Elections/RO/3/8/2023, without considering the objections raised by the petitioner and members of the respondent No.1/Society, is arbitrary, illegal and the same is liable to be set aside and ultimately prayed to allow the writ petition as prayed for.
4. The Hon'ble Supreme Court while considering the maintainability of the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, wherein challenge was made to the elections to the cooperative society, observed as follows:-
"12. In view of our finding that preparation of the electoral roll is being an intermediate stage in the process of election of the managing committee of a specified society and the election process having been set in motion, it is well settled that the High Court should not stay the continuation of the election process even though there may be some alleged illegality or breach of rules while preparing the electoral roll. It is not 5 disputed that the election in question has already been held and the result thereof has been stayed by an order of this Court, and once the result of the election is declared, it would be open to the appellant to challenge the election of returned candidate, if aggrieved, by means of an election petition before the election tribunal.
13. In that view of the matter, we are in agreement with the view taken by the High Court that the appellant having an alternative remedy, the writ petition deserved dismissal."
5. It is settled principle of law that once election process is set in motion, the High Court should not interfere and stall the elections and all issues relating to elections including the drawing up voter list is part of election process. A remedy to a person aggrieved by any aspect relating to election is only by filing election petition and remedy of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not available, as the said remedy is only available to question on the grounds of perversity, irregularity, irrationality, want of power to take a decision and the procedural irregularity. It is well settled that except on the above grounds, the power of judicial review is not available against administrative decisions nor the administrative decisions are called for any interference in exercise of judicial review power in the absence of the grounds referred supra. It is well settled in catena of judgments rendered by this Court as well as Hon'ble Apex Court 6 and it is the consistent view of the Constitutional Courts not to interdict with the election process, once such process has already begun by issuing the notification.
6. In view of the above, the present writ petition fails and the same is accordingly dismissed.
As a sequel, miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, shall stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.
___________________ C.V.BHASKAR REDDY, J Dt.25.09.2023 scs