HC Sets Aside Interim Orders, Clears Way For JH Cooperative Building Society Polls
The bench made it clear that the arrangement would not prejudice the rights of any party. After declaration of the results, any aggrieved person would be at liberty to challenge the election through an election petition under Sections 61(3) and 61(4) of the Telangana Cooperative Societies Act, 1964
Hyderabad: A division bench of the Telangana High Court has cleared the way for elections to the managing committee of the Jubilee Hills Cooperative House Building Society, setting aside the interim orders of a single judge on April 2 that had stalled the electoral process.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin on Tuesday allowed five writ appeals filed by the society challenging the single judge`s interim orders. The bench directed cooperative societies department to resume the process from where it was halted, in accordance with the election notification issued on March 18. It ordered the authorities to complete the process as expeditiously as possible and, in any event, within eight weeks.
A key direction related to 270 members whose names appeared on the disputed voter slips. The court said that their votes were to be cast separately and secured in a distinct ballot box. The votes of the remaining members in the final voters' list were to be kept separately. The ballot papers of both categories were required to be preserved separately until the election process and any subsequent legal proceedings were concluded.
The bench made it clear that the arrangement would not prejudice the rights of any party. After declaration of the results, any aggrieved person would be at liberty to challenge the election through an election petition under Sections 61(3) and 61(4) of the Telangana Cooperative Societies Act, 1964. If the votes of the 270 disputed members had any bearing on the outcome, that issue could also be raised before the competent forum.
The bench clarified that parties questioning the membership or disqualification of the persons concerned could pursue remedies available under Section 76 of the Act and also challenge the inclusion of the 270 members before the competent authority.
The bench considered the arguments of senior designated counsel R.N. Hemendranath Reddy, appearing for the society, who had contended that the single judge had stayed the elections only three days before the scheduled polling date of April 5, despite the availability of an alternative statutory remedy under the Cooperative Societies Act. He also argued that most of the disqualified members had not responded till 2026, when they were removed as members in 2024.
The dispute arose after the society published a provisional voters' list of 4,394 members on February 9, allegedly excluding the names of the petitioners and nearly 887 members who had participated in earlier elections. The petitioners questioned the exclusion and also challenged the admission of newly enrolled members. The society had argued that the exclusions were made as the members did not submit the KYC details.
According to the petitioners, despite an interim order dated October 24, 2024, restraining admission of new members, the society subsequently included 270 such members in the electoral process. They also relied on an order in a contempt proceeding directing that members admitted after October 24, 2024, should not be included in the election process.
The single judge had stayed the elections. Challenging the same, the society members filed the appeals, which were heard by the division bench and pronounced judgment on Tuesday. The bench directed that the election process should proceed, leaving all substantive disputes concerning membership, voter eligibility and the validity of the election to the appropriate statutory forums. It also directed that any such proceedings be decided independently on their merits and without being influenced by observations made either in the single judge's interim order or in the division bench judgment.
