TMI Blog1967 (7) TMI 132X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ected at the general body meeting on 11-6-1967 from holding their offices. In both the applications the order of interim injunction was passed by this Court on 21-6-1967 and the respondents aggrieved by the said order have applied (or vacating the Interim orders passed by this Court by means of Applications Nos. 1227 and 1228 of 1967 respectively. 3. The facts which led up to the present suit and the applications aforesaid may briefly be stated. The first defendant which is a Registered Society under the Societies Registration Act is the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce. It was founded in 1939, its main objects being encouragement and development of the film industry and the solution of problems connected with it. The Chamber is governed by its Memorandum of Association and Rules (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) with regard to all its activities including the election or nomination of its office bearers. The principal office-bearers of Society (hereinafter referred to as the Chamber) are the President, two Vice-Presidents, two Honorary Secretaries one Treasurer and twenty-two committee members. These office-bearers are elected every year at a general body meeting conv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd of protest or objection at the time of the announcement. The newly elected office-bearers were functioning as such from the 11th of June, 1967, and the present suit was instituted by the plaintiff (who contested for the Secretary's post and lost) for a declaration that the election of defendants 4 to 12 for the year 1967-68 to the offices of Secretaries and the members of the committee was illegal and ultra vires and also for a perpetual injunction restraining all the office holders of the Chamber, defendants 2 to 21 holding any office in the first defendant Chamber pursuant to the election held on 11-6-1967. 5. In paragraph 9 of the plaint, the plaintiff has set forth his various grounds of complaint and objections with regard to the alleged irregularities and illegalities and violations of the rules of the Society vitiating the election of the office-bearers aforesaid. In the Schedules A to E appended to the plaint, the plaintiff has specified the categories of instances concerning the illegality of the voting. Pending disposal of the suit, the plaintiff has asked for the Interim injunction as stated above. 6. The contesting defendants 3 and 4 have set forth their ob ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... immediately after he becomes a member of the Chamber. According to the plaintiff, the authorisation forms signed by members were received and registered at the office of the first defendant between 6th and 9th of June, 1967, long after (in many cases years after) they had become members of the Chamber. Further, according to the plaintiff, virtually, the enrolment of a person as a member of the Chamber should form part and parcel of his authorisation to someone to represent him in terms of Rule 8. The other complaint of the plaintiff is that changes in the authorisation should have been made 48 hours before the date of any meeting; in this case before the evening of 8th of June, and that changes in authorisation received on the 9th, though they may be only up to 9-30 A.M. on the 9th were invalid. According to the plaintiff, Rule 8 would not permit the Chamber to receive change of authorisations after 5-30 P.M. on 8-6-1967 and that 90 such authorisations were received subsequent to such period. The third objection with regard to Rule No. 8 on which considerable stress was laid was that the authorised representative must be the principal officer employed in the film business of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nds on which the validity and legality of the elections of the office-bearers are questioned by the plaintiff in the suit. 10. The main ground on which the Interim injunction is asked for, restraining these office-bearers from functioning is that the constitution of the Chamber is such that their meetings should be conducted and deliberations and decisions taken therein, should be with a view to serve, safeguard and protect the interests of all the members in general and the interests of the several categories of the members as Studios, Producers, Distributors, Exhibitors and Associates and that when election of the office-bearers concerning a particular group is under serious challenge, any decision taken by the Chamber or its executive committee would cause considerable prejudice to the members of the Chamber and in particular the members of the specific groups as Studios, Producers, Distributors, Exhibitors and Associates, if ultimately this Court were to hold that the elections complained of by the plaintiff are invalid and illegal. The lull and complete representative character of the executive committee and its members is seriously impaired when the election of the office- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vour of the plaintiff. 12. Even at the threshold it is necessary to advert to one crucial aspect which was stressed in the two counter affidavits filed on behalf of the defendants 3 and 4 as well as stressed in the course of the arguments of Sri V. Thyagarajan learned Counsel for the respondents. Even assuming (without conceding so, in any manner whatsoever) that there had been any violation, infringement or non-compliance of any of the provisions of the Rules, this practice has been in vogue for several years and the office-bearers who were elected in accordance with such uniform practice, have been functioning all these years, without any challenge or question, that this practice in the course of these long years is itself an indication that the Rules which are after all framed for the internal management and for safeguarding and protecting the interests of the members have been understood in that sense, i.e. whether obligatory, mandatory or directory, that the plaintiff who has been in the executive committee on prior occasions had full knowledge and was fully alive to these alleged violations and infringements of the rules, that above all, with full knowledge of these allege ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Court should not embark upon a detailed investigation on the relative merits of the contentions of the parties and it is enough if the plaintiff raises questions of a substantial character calling for decisions after an examination of the facts and the law arising in the case. The Court can consider the nature and the merits of the rival contentions at the interlocutory stage only as bearing upon the limited question as to whether or not the plaintiff has made out a strong prima facie case. The Court should avoid expressing any opinion on the merits which would partake the character of a decision of the main issues in the case. The plaintiff should next make out that the Court's interference is necessary to protect him from an injury or mischief which is imminent and it is at the same time irreparable. He should make out that the injury is so serious, irreparable and imminent that an immediate order of Court is necessary even before his rights are established at the trial. Inseparably connected with this, is the burden, which lies upon the plaintiff to make out, that the comparative mischief or inconvenience which would ensue from withholding the injunction would be far great ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... full the contents of the two printed notices which were published on the 20th of May. 1967, about the general body meeting of the 11th of June, 1967, at 6-30 P.M. In the first notice, the particulars of the seats as representing particular group are given. Nominations for the several office-bearers are required to be sent before 5-30 P.M. on the 30th of May. The scrutiny of the nominations was announced to take place at 5-45 P.M. on the 30th itself in the premises of the Chamber. The polling was announced to take place on the 11th of June, between 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. and 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. Particular attention of the members is drawn to Rule No. 8 regarding voting by authorised members with particular reference to the form in which the authorisation of a member has to be declared as the principal officer employed in the film business of the member. This notice winds up by saying that members intending to send their representatives may send in fresh authorisations for the general body meeting on the 11th of June, so as to reach the Chamber, 48 hours before the commencement of the meeting. In the other notice, the agenda is notified, one of which is the election of office-bearers for 196 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e scrutiny of the nominations and their names still continue, these members cannot be denied their right to participate in the election. He also urged that members are on the rolls for a long time and at this distance of time, all of a sudden, the legality of their voting cannot be objected after the voting has been over. 17. In the first notice there is the intimation that members who desire to send their authorisations for the forthcoming meeting may send before 48 hours before the date of the meeting. Here too the same argument was advanced by Sri Thyagarajan Iyer to the effect that all the members, for all these years, have uniformly understood Rule No. 8 as permitting authorisation at any time up to a limit of 48 hours before the meeting and that no member had understood Rule No. 8 in the sense that unless the nomination of the authorised representative was made forthwith as part and parcel of an application for the membership, authorised representatives cannot be nominated subsequently. He also urged that it would be absurd and anomalous to compel a member to nominate his authorised representative when he has no confidence in any other person and desires to attend the meet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ications of the member or the associate member as the case may be and the plaintiff himself was in the executive committee, the previous years and he had full access to all the records. 19. Sri V.P. Raman attempted to meet this argument by urging that whether a particular member was actually engaged in the production of a picture, whether an authorised representative was the principal officer employed in the film business of the member concerned, are all factual matters which can be investigated only at the trial after evidence and arguments and that at the stage of the interlocutory application, they are not quite germane and that it is sufficient, if his client, the plaintiff had raised substantial questions of fact and law even turning upon the proper interpretation of the rules, and that he need not establish at this stage that he is sure to succeed at the trial. I am unable to accept this argument put in this abstract form as it would result in the position that a plaintiff has merely to allege and deny facts and on that ground ask for an interim injunction. As observed earlier, all the aspects cumulatively should be taken into account in determining whether an interim i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of these members as producer members, as authorised representatives etc. can be considered without they being parties to this proceeding. There is no point in this Court adjudicating upon the question whether the members in Schedule A to the plaint are actually engaged in the production of pictures and whether the members set out in Schedule C are not the principal officers of the film business of the concerned authorising members. Any decision in this suit will be of no avail and they will still continue to be on the rolls pi the Chamber unless an objection is raised in their presence and their answers are heard. It is necessary to remember that this right to vote, whether a right or a privilege, emerges from an inseparably connected status as a member of the Chamber. It would result in anomalous and absurd consequences if the Court were to uphold the plaintiff's objections, that these numerous members will not be members for the purpose of voting so far as this election is concerned, while vis-a-vis the Chamber they will undoubtedly and certainly continue to be members of the Chamber entitled to all the privileges like distribution of raw films and various other materials in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... their representatives. When all the members including the plaintiff have accepted and therefore represented to the authorising members that their representatives can vote at the meeting, the plaintiff nor even the Society as an entity, cannot thereafter refuse to take their votes into consideration. It would be opposed to all principles of natural justice if the Court were to hold that the votes exercised by all these 200 representatives are invalid without the authorising members being given an opportunity to defend their authorisations. All these aspects clearly emphasise that the decision in the instant case will have to proceed only on the basis of the finality of the roll of the members of the Chamber as it existed on the date of the election and the plaintiff cannot question the accuracy of the roll That perhaps, is the reason why in the statutes regarding elections to Municipalities, local bodies etc., there is a statutory provision for the amendment of the electoral roll and a right to seek redress in a Court of law either in the initial or the subsequent stages of the election dispute. I am making these observations not as expressing my final opinion, but as merely ind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... surface that it does not require much of an elaboration to hold that the balance of convenience is all in favour of the defendants and the damage or the prejudice that will be sustained by the defendants by the issue of an Interim injunction would be irreparable and cannot by any means be compensated in damages and neither the plaintiff nor the Court could do anything which could repair the damage or afford adequate restitution or compensation. As against this, let me examine what the balance of convenience in favour of the plaintiff is. Except the existence of party faction which may be presumed because of the contest in the elections in the group of representatives of the producers' group, the plaintiff does not allege any malice or ill will or ulterior motive on the part of the defendants either as a group or individually. Mr. Raman's argument is that when every deliberation, decision and activity and action taken by the Chamber should be in a representative character by the members of the executive committee, all acting together as one unit, such a thing is not secured when the election of honorary secretaries and the committee members under the producers' group ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... point of view of the Chamber in general but would take a partisan view, being led by defendants 4 to 12. One can understand the plaintiff having some kind of statable grievance at least, if in the action he questions the legality of the election of all the office bearers. The rest of the members of the executive committee are respectable persons and they have been elected unopposed and unanimously. As mentioned above, so far as the rest of the office bearers are concerned, the plaintiff has not made any specific complaint of a personal nature. The argument was more in the nature of a legal argument in the abstract, that the executive committee consisting of all the members should not be allowed to function as one unit when the election of some of the members of that executive committee is under challenge. It is obvious that the question of balance of convenience has to be decided only with reference to actual realities of the factual position, and not by a mere doctrinaire approach in the abstract. In this connection, I may refer to the decision in J.K. Choudhury V. Hem Chandra, AIR 1956 Assam 82 in which the facts and the main situation were somewhat similar as in the instan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ite allegation either. In such a case, an order of injunction restraining the defendants to function was absolutely uncalled for. On the contrary, the balance of convenience was entirely in favour of the defendants and the interest of the institution demands that the governing body should continue to function. It is suggested that probably some unauthorised expenditure may be incurred by the present governing body in the name of the institution. As I have said, there are already a number of persons there who are expected to control the co-opted members. Even as against the co-opted members there is not a word of complaint. I have no hesitation in holding that the apprehensions of the plaintiff are more Imaginary than real and it would be highly unfair to the members of the executive committee consisting of responsible and respectable members to speculate that they would deliberately do anything detrimental to the interests of the Chamber. In this connection it has to be noticed that it is not even the case of the plaintiff that the producer members were elected by any particular party or faction opposed against the plaintiff or the members of his group so as even to afford a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cations if it were to be held that deliberations and proceedings of the Raw Film Committee cannot be conducted in pursuance of the later resolution, At any rate, at the stage of this interlocutory application, it will not be open to the plaintiff to take up the position that the Secretaries are not ex-officio members of the Raw Film Committee. To sum up, therefore, I have not the slightest hesitation in holding that the plaintiff, who after all is only one individual member of Chamber has not made out any case for holding that the balance of convenience is in his favour so as to suspend the activities of the Chamber which has in its roll about 1600 members. 24. It only remains to deal with the conduct of the plaintiff as bearing upon the discretion of the Court and on which repeated stress was laid by Sri Thyagaraja Iyer. The notices were furnished on the 20th of May and the plaintiff had ample time to raise his objections and have the electoral rolls rectified. The two notices, as observed earlier, set forth all the details, drew pointed attention of the members to Rule No. 8 and Rules 5 and 36. The plaintiff who was in the Executive Committee on prior occasions had full kno ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or concurred in the very act which he afterwards comes to complain of, when it suits his purpose. In that case the petitioner was not allowed to question the election as she was aware of the provision; she was an advocate and at the time of the scrutiny of the nominations of the contesting candidates, she did not raise any objection, but waited till she was defeated in the election. I may next refer to the Bench Decision of this Court in A.R.V. Achar v. Madras State. AIR1954Mad563 in which the applicant for the issue of a writ of quo warranto acquiesced in and actually contested the election and it was held that the petitioner had by his own conduct precluded himself from obtaining the discretionary relief in the hands of the Court. (Vide observations at page 109 where the principle of the decision (1866) LR 1 QB 433 is discussed). The same principle was applied in a Bench judgment of the Patna High Court consisting of Ramaswamy, C.J., (as he then was) and Choudhary, J., in the case of municipal elections and it was held that when the petitioner with full knowledge of the illegality participated in the election and thus acquiesced or concurred in the election, the Court would in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Board Election, the validity of which was questioned under Section 42 of the Specific Relief Act by a Bench of this Court in Lakshminarasimha Somavagiyar v. Ramalingam Pillai, 39 MLJ 319 AIR 1920 Mad 573 following the decision of the Calcutta High Court in ILR 41 Cal 384 AIR 1914 Cal 152. In that case also the plaintiff competed for the seat, participated in the election and acquiesced in every step in the election till he sustained defeat at the elections and then brought the suit Sadasiva Iyer, J., observed that the conduct of the plaintiff in having accepted the election proceedings as having been regularly begun is sufficient to disentitle the plaintiff from the relief even assuming that a valid electoral register did not exist (Vide observations at page 324). Spencer, J., stated the law in similar terms at page 329, after pointedly referring to the decision of the Calcutta High Court: The plaintiffs suit deservedly fails for another reason. When the register was prepared he did not adopt the procedure provided by Rule 10(4) of objecting up to the 20th of September. The election was on October 2nd and in his petition to the Collector, dated October 6th (Exhibit L) he did no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rotest against the inclusion of persons who are not qualified to be members. The decision of the Calcutta High Court relied upon by him is distinguishable as it related to a suit in which a person sought the relief that some person should be included in the rolls. Even so there are observations in that decision to recognise the right of the member to object to the wrongful inclusion of the members on the rolls of the Society distinguished from a right to claim for the inclusion of a person as a member. If Mr. Raman's contentions were to be accepted, it will be an intolerable state of law if the executive committee would be allowed to enroll members and swell the electorate without any regard to the relevant provisions of the rules and yet the members concerned will have no effective right to question the wrong decisions of the executive committee but would be obliged to meekly submit to its decision and agitate the question only in a suit after the elections are over. I have no doubt that the plaintiff could well have raised this objection at any time previously or at any rate after the announcement of the election of the office-bearers by issue of the notice convening the m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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