Allahabad High Court
Antrikh Greens Apartment Owners ... vs Deputy Registrsr Firms Societies And ... on 17 September, 2024
Author: Manish Kumar
Bench: Manish Kumar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:150946 Court No. - 34 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 30898 of 2024 Petitioner :- Antrikh Greens Apartment Owners Association And Another Respondent :- Deputy Registrsr Firms Societies And Chits And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Gajendra Singh Arya,Shikhar Tandon Counsel for Respondent :- Anil Kumar Bajpai,Ashish Agrawal,C.S.C. Hon'ble Manish Kumar,J.
1. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties, the present petition is being decided at the admission stage itself.
2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Anil Kumar Bajpai, learned counsel for the respondent Bank.
3. Present petition has been filed for quashing of the impugned order dated 05.07.2024, whereby the respondent no. 2-Branch Manager, Union Bank of India, Branch Kaushambi, Ghaziabad (hereinafter referred to as, the Bank) has asked the Secretary of the petitioner no. 1 to provide the certified copy of the office bearers as per the instructions from their competent authority i.e. Regional Office at Ghaziabad and the impugned order dated 29.07.2024, whereby the Bank has freezed the accounts of the petitioner no. 1 with a direction that further operation in the account will be allowed only after the directions received from the respondent no. 1.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that petitioner no. 2 was duly elected Secretary of the petitioner no. 1 in the elections held in the year 2023-24 as the term of the committee of management is one year only. After expiry of the term on 01.07.2024, the Deputy Registrar has passed an order dated 17.08.2024 under Section 25 (2) declaring the committee time barred as no elections were held by the outgoing committee of management after the expiry of the term.
5. It is further submitted that prior to the passing of the order under Section 25 (2) by the Deputy Registrar dated 17.08.2024, the impugned orders dated 05.07.2024 and 29.07.2024 were passed i.e. immediately after expiry of the term on the dictates of the competent authority i.e. Regional Head Office at Ghaziabad.
6. It is further submitted that as per the proviso 3 to Section 26 of the Model Bye-Laws, wherein it is provided that office bearers shall hold office until their successors have been elected and hold their first meeting. For convenience, it is reproduced hereinbelow:-
"26. Election and term of office:-
i) The annual general meeting of the Association, to be held in the first quarter of each financial year, shall elect neither less than 4, nor more than 10 members including the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer from Members of the Association.
Provided that no member shall be eligible for election if he has been found guilty of misusing the post during his previous term. The term of office of the office bearers of the Board shall be one year from the date of assuming office and they will be eligible for reelection.
ii) An arrangement shall be made by the board to ensure than one third of members of the board retire annually.
iii) The office bearers shall hold office until their successors have been elected and hold their fist meeting. "
7. The elections are yet to be held as per the order of Deputy Registrar dated 17.08.2024.
8. It is further submitted that there is no direction issued by the Deputy Registrar to the Bank to freeze the account or intimating the Bank that after the expiry of the term of the committee of management they shall not be permitted to operate the account of the petitioner no. 1.
9. It is further submitted that on the earlier occasion also the Bank had freezed the account and thereafter passed an order on 10.06.2024 for de-freezing the account mentioning therein that as per the legal opinion, since the matter is sub judice before the appropriate authority/court i.e. Deputy Registrar and until any order is produced by the A.O.A. or its authorized member, the Bank should not interfere in the affairs of the A.O.A.
10. It is further submitted that the signature of petitioner no. 2 are duly certified/attested by the Deputy Registrar.
11. On the other hand, learned counsel for the Bank has submitted that the committee of management of petitioner no. 2 has become functus officio after expiry of the term and as per the direction of the competent authority, the impugned order has been passed freezing the accounts and there is no illegality in the same.
12. On being asked from the learned counsel for the respondent Bank whether any order or directions were issued by the Deputy Registrar asking the Bank not to permit the petitioner no. 2 to operate the account or freeze the accounts of the petitioner no. 1, the learned counsel for the Bank has submitted that Bank has not received any such direction or order from the Deputy Registrar. It is on the instructions issued by the competent authority i.e. Regional Head Office, the impugned orders have been passed.
13. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and going through the record of the case, it is found that it is an admitted fact to the respondent Bank that Bank was permitting the petitioner no. 2 to operate the account of petitioner no. 1 as committee has submitted the certified/attestation of signature of petitioner no. 2 by the Deputy Registrar and till date no one else has produced any such document claiming therein that signature of that person has been attested by the Deputy Registrar for operating the bank account of the petitioner no. 1. It is the only document for operating the account available with the Bank i.e. order of the Deputy Registrar attesting the signature of the petitioner no. 2.
14. It is also an admitted case of the Bank that it has not received any order for communication from the Deputy Registrar to freeze the Bank account of the petitioner no. 1 or not to permit the petitioner no. 2 to operate the account. As per Model Bye-Laws as quoted hereinabove, the outgoing committee of management may continue till their successors have been elected and hold their first meeting whereas till date the elections have not been held and as per the Model Bye-Laws as provided under the statute, the petitioner no. 2 is still continuing as Secretary whose signatures are attested by the Deputy Registrar for operating the accounts of the petitioner no. 1.
15. Under these circumstances, the Bank is not suppose to involve itself in the dispute of the elections of the society/association. The Bank has to comply with the provisions which provides that the person whose signatures are attested by the Deputy Registrar is suppose to operate the Bank Account of the Society/Association and nothing else.
16. In view of the above, the present petition is allowed.
17. The impugned orders dated 05.07.2024 and 29.07.2024 are hereby quashed.
Order Date :- 17.9.2024 Ashish