Uttarakhand High Court
Surendra Kumar & Others vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others on 25 July, 2022
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1584 of 2022
Surendra Kumar & Others
..................Petitioners
-Versus-
State of Uttarakhand and Others
.............Respondents
Present: Mr. S. S. Yadav, learned counsel for the petitioners.
Mr. Suyash Pant, learned Standing Counsel for the State.
Mr. Parikshit Saini, learned counsel for the caveator.
Date of Hearing and Order: 25.07.2022
Sri Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.
Upon hearing the learned counsel for the parties, the Court
made the following order:
1. By filing this writ petition, the petitioners claiming
themselves to be the permanent Members of a Society
namely Prem Vidyalaya Sabha, Gurukul Narsan,
District Haridwar, pray for the following reliefs:-
(i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of the
Certiorari quashing the impugned order dated
02.03.2022 (Annexure No. 1 to the writ petition)
passed by the respondent no. 8.
(ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of
Mandamus directing the respondent no. 3, 4 and 5
to seize the powers of the present management
committee and to appoint the Authorized Controller
in Raja Mahendra Pratap Prem Vidyalaya Inter
College, Gurukul Narsan, District Haridwar for
discharging the smooth function in the institution.
(iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of
Mandamus directing the respondent no. 1 to take
speedy decision on the representations made by
the petitioners dated 08.03.2022 and 14.03.2022
(Annexure No. 23 to the writ petition) which are still
pending before the respondent no. 1.
2. There are a number of litigations between the parties. It
is borne out from the record that the respondent no. 9
herein has filed a Writ Petition (M/S) No. 955 of 2021
praying for issuance of Mandamus from this Court, for
holding the elections of Committee of Management of
Raja Mahendra Pratap Prem Vidyalaya Inter College,
Gurukul Narsan, District Haridwar. That case was
disposed of on 20.05.2021 by innocuous order
directing the Authorities, especially the Director,
Secondary Education, Directorate of School Education,
Nanoorkhera, Dehradun to do the needful for
constitution of the Management Committee of the
School. In pursuance of such order, the elections were
held.
3. In the interregnum, the petitioner no. 3 appearing in
this case along with others, filed a WPMS NO. 2653 of
2021, which was disposed of by this Court on
15.12.2021. It was submitted by petitioner no. 3 that
no election was held and therefore, the Court directed
the election be held. The present respondent no. 9
preferred a Special Appeal to this Court, which has
been registered as Special Appeal No. 429 of 2021. The
Appeal was allowed by the Division Bench on
04.03.2022 holding paragraphs 15, 16 & 17 are as
follows:-
"15. The writ-petitioner cannot be allowed to
play "hide and seek" or to "pick and choose" the
facts he likes to disclose and to suppress or not to
disclose other facts. The petitioner must disclose all
the facts. This is because, the Courts know law but
not facts. If a petitioner is found guilty of concealment
of material facts, the Court not only has the right,
but, a duty to deny relief to such person to prevent an
abuse of process of law and dismiss the petition on
this ground alone without going to the merits of the
case.
16. The Courts of law are meant for imparting
justice between the parties. Knowing that the election
had taken place and result was declared, the
respondent no. 6-writ petitioner sought for a relief to
issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondent
no. 4 to delete 1384 names of such ordinary voters,
whose term was expired in the year 2019, 129
voters, who have already died and 78 voters, who
have not paid their fee for life membership before the
election is conducted for the Management Committee
of Raja Mahendra Pratap Prem Vidyalaya
Intermediate College, Gurukul Narsan, District
Haridwar.
17. Resultantly, this Special Appeal is allowed.
The judgment dated 15.12.2021, passed in Writ
Petition (M/S) No. 2653 of 2021, "Ravindra Kumar
vs. State of Uttarakhand and Others", is set-aside."
4. It is apparent that petitioner no. 3 has already filed a
writ petition before this Court concealing the material
facts. Mr. S.S. Yadav, learned counsel for the
petitioners would submit that such a non-pleading of
the facts that election has already taken place, is a
mistake of the counsel engaged earlier by the petitioner
no. 3.
5. Be that as it may, in this present petition, the
petitioner has reflected in Para 1 that this is the first
writ petition for issue in question, however, Paragraph
24 of the writ petition speaks otherwise. The petitioners
have not disclosed about the pendency and disposal of
writ petition, in which, the petitioner no. 3 was a party
(petitioner) therein. It is also not disputed that issues
relating to the earlier writ petitions, are also direct and
substantive issues in this particular writ petition.
Moreover, it is apparent from the record that the
petitioner no. 3 has not only concealed the facts about
earlier writ petitions having been filed by him but also
the same were disposed of by this Court.
6. It is also borne out from the record that the learned
counsel appearing for the petitioners at present was
aware regarding filing and disposal of the earlier writ
petitions and have given a certificate in paragraph no. 1
of this writ petition that no other writ petition was filed
before the Court relating to the subject matter of the
writ petition.
7. On that ground itself, writ petition should be dismissed
with costs.
8. It is further apparent from the record that the
petitioners challenge the election of the office bearers of
the society, therefore, Annexure no. 1 should be
quashed. This matter could have been agitated before
the Registrar of the Societies Registration by invoking
Section 25 of the said Act.
9. Learned counsel for the petitioners though says that
this aspect is not covered by the provisions of Section
25 of the said Act. This is the considered opinion of this
Court that the dispute relating to the election of office
bearers of the society on the relevant ground as
mentioned therein, is within the competence of the
Registrar of the Societies Registration. Hence, the
petitioners have an alternative and efficacious remedy
available to them. On the aforesaid two aspects, this
petition is dismissed with costs of Rs. 10,000/- to be
paid by the petitioners to the respondent no. 9 within
15 days.
(Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.)
25.07.2022
(Grant urgent certified copy as per Rules)
A/-
