The Kerala High Court has upheld the Ernakulam District Court’s order that a scheme for the administration of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam shall be framed in accordance with the Companies Act.
Dismissing the appeal filed by the SNDP Yogam, its general secretary Vellappally Natesan and few others, a Division Bench of the court consisting of Justices P.B. Suresh Kumar and C. S. Sudha held that there was no infirmity in the decision of the district court regarding the need to form a scheme for managing the administration of the Yogam.
It was on a petition filed by C.K. Vidhya Sagar, Reghunatha Panicker, Mohan Sankar and a few others that the district court issued the order in 2009.
The Division Bench also upheld the district court’s order of rejecting the plea to remove Mr. Natesan and others from the administration of the Yogam.
In its order, the district court had held that a case was not made out for the removal of Mr. Natesan and others. Serious arguments were not been advanced by the plaintiffs regarding the finding of the district court for the reason that the council of the Yogam was reconstituted after the institution of the suit. There was no infirmity in the findings of the district court in this regard, the High Court held.
The affairs of the Yogam regarding the persons entitled to participate in its annual general meeting to elect its office-bearers, appeared to be in an untidy state which could not be tackled by the Yogam. Hence, the plaintiffs were justified in seeking a direction of the court under Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure Code for administration of the Yogam, the High Court held.
The Division Bench felt that there was a lack of clarity regarding the inter-relationship of the Yogam with its branches, which led to frequent disputes between the Yogam and its branches and unions, especially over the assets of the branches and unions. A legal pronouncement on the relationship between the Yogam and its branches and unions shall be made for the proper management of the Yogam in the best interests of its beneficiaries, the court held.
According to the Bench, the fact that the disputes between the Yogam and its branches and unions have been existing for the last several years and the Yogam could not find a solution for this during all these years also prompted it to hold that a permanent solution on the issue was not possible without the interference of the Court.
