Uttarakhand High Court
WPMS/83/2023 on 11 January, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
WRIT PETITION (M/S) NO. 83 OF 2023
11TH JANUARY, 2023
BETWEEN:
Ashok Gramodyog Sansthan .....Petitioner.
And
Public In General ....Respondent.
Counsel for the Petitioner : Mr. Parikshit Saini, learned
counsel.
The Court made the following:
JUDGMENT:(per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Vipin Sanghi)
The present writ petition, under Article 227 of the
Constitution of India, has been preferred by the petitioner to
assail the order dated 08.12.2022, passed by the Ist
Additional District Judge, Haridwar, District Haridwar, in Misc.
Case No.07 of 2022, whereby the application preferred by the
petitioner- society under Section 5A of the Societies
Registration Act, as amended by the Uttarakhand Amendment
Act No.04 of 2019, has been dismissed, and the permission
sought by the petitioner to transfer the land of the Society
has been denied.
2. The submission of learned counsel for the petitioner
is that under Section 5A of the Societies Registration Act, the
Governing Body cannot transfer, without the previous
approval of the Court, any immovable property belonging to
such society. Explanation (1) states that the expression
'Court' has the same meaning as assigned to it in Section 13.
Section 13 of the Societies Registration Act, as applicable in
the State of Uttarakhand, shows that 'Court' means the
Principal Court of original jurisdiction of the district, in which,
the registered office of the Society has been situated.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that,
firstly, the petitioner- society is not registered in the State of
Uttarakhand with the Registrar of the Societies. The petitioner
has placed on record the registration certificate of the
petitioner- society issued by the Registrar of Societies of
Uttar Pradesh, dated 01.02.2022, which records that the
petitioner- society has its registered office at 30/A/23,
Madanpur Colony, Chilkana Road, Saharanpur- 247001, and it
was issued registration vide Registration Certificate No.1601,
dated 02.11.1991, which has been renewed for a period of
five years on 02.11.2021.
4. Learned counsel submits that neither the registered
office of the petitioner- society is situated in the State of
Uttarakhand, nor is the petitioner- society registered with the
Registrar of Societies, Uttarakhand. Therefore, the application
under Section 5A of the Societies Registration Act, as
applicable to the State of Uttarakhand, was misconceived,
and the Court of Ist A.D.J. Haridwar, District Haridwar did not
have the jurisdiction to deal with Misc. Case No.07 of 2022.
5. Learned counsel has also drawn the attention of the
Court to the application, as filed in the Court of District Judge,
Haridwar, wherein in Paragraph No.1, it had been clearly
disclosed that the registered office of the petitioner- society is
situated at Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He submits that, in
the aforesaid light, the learned Ist A.D.J. Haridwar should
have returned the application, as moved, since he did not
have the jurisdiction to deal with the matter.
6. I have heard learned counsel, and perused the
record.
7. From the record produced before the Court, it
appears to this Court that the learned District Judge,
Hardiwar, District Haridwar did not have the jurisdiction to
deal with the petitioner's application under Section 5A of the
Societies Registration Act, as applicable to the State of
Uttarakhand, since the petitioner's registered office is not in
the State of Uttarakhand, and it is not a society registered
with the Registrar of Firms in the State of Uttarakhand.
8. The impugned order, therefore, has been passed
without jurisdiction and, is, accordingly, set-aside.
9. The writ petition is allowed in the aforesaid terms.
10. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of.
(VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.)
Dated: 11th January, 2023
NISHANT
