Dr. S. Muralidhar, J
1. The elections to the Offices of the National President, Vice President and Treasurer of the Young Menâ€s Christian Association (“YMCAâ€)
has led to the latest round of litigation in the form of the present appeals before this Court, directed as it is against the judgment dated 19th July, 2019
of the learned Single Judge of this Court in the several IAs filed in CS (OS) No.148/2018.
Background facts
2. The aforementioned suit under Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPCâ€) has been filed by some of the member YMCAs
against the National Council of YMCAs of India (“NCYIâ€). At the time of filing of the suit, the President of the NCYI was Mr. Lebi Philip
Mathew. Among the reliefs claimed in the said suit was a direction for supervision of the conduct of elections to the NCYI.
3. By the judgment dated 19th July, 2018, the learned Single Judge, after granting relief under Section 92 CPC, appointed Justice Anil Dev Singh, a
former Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan, as an Election Officer (EO) for the conduct of elections.
4. In the operative portion of the above judgment dated 19th July, 2018, it was noted that the NCYI was holding in trust several movable and
immovable properties across the country; there were as many as 756 member YMCAs; elections ought to be conducted smoothly, fairly in terms of
the memorandum and rules of the YMCA; the apprehension expressed by the Plaintiffs of skewed results in the event of suspension of several
member YMCAs, thus depriving them of the opportunity of participating in the elections, could not be said to be without basis and therefore there was
the need for “an independent observer to supervise and conduct the elections already scheduled for the elected posts in the National Executive on
2nd September, 2018â€. The learned Single Judge empowered the EO appointed to carry out the following:
“a) To draw up/finalise the list of 'good standing' member YMCAs that would be entitled to send their delegates/nominees for voting in the
forthcoming elections;
b) Review the list of member organisations, who have been either suspended or not allowed to participate in the elections and afford them an
opportunity to rectify the shortcomings and enable their participation in the elections, as per the Rules;
c) Verify the lists of delegates being nominated by the various YMCAs organizations;
d) Call for any information that may be required to establish their genuinity as members of the said local organizations;
e) Draw up a final list of voters who would be entitled to vote on behalf of their various member organizations;
f) Scrutinise the eligibility of the persons nominated by the Nomination committee;
g) Scrutinise the counter nominations that may be filed;
h) Interact with the member organizations in respect of the venue for the elections and if required, change the venue;
i) Conduct the elections in a fee and fair manner and if required by secret ballot;
j) Announce the final results.â€
5. Although elections were fixed for 6th October, 2018, since there were a large number of disputes among the various factions of YMCAs, the
elections had to be postponed.
6. Of the 756 members YMCAs, disputes were raised in respect of 130. The EO passed orders from time to time and the elections were finally fixed
for 2 nd December, 2018. Among the decisions which were challenged, was the one taken by the EO on 21st November, 2018 disqualifying the
Pathanamthitta YMCA (PYMCAâ€) and Repalle YMCA (“RYMCAâ€). By another order dated 29th November, 2018, 31 other YMCAs were
also disqualified.
7. At this stage, it must be noticed that only “Good Standing†YMCAs, in terms of the bye-laws of the YMCA, participate in the elections to the
National Executive. As per the Rules and Regulations of YMCA, “a good standing list of YMCAs is to be prepared as on 31st December of every
year to be in force for the following one year. The good standing YMCAs in the said list alone will have voting right for all the purposes including the
election of the President as well as the members of the Executive Committee which is to be conducted for a period of 3 years.â€
8. In view of the PYMCA being disqualified, its nominee Mr. Lebi Phillip Mathew could not contest for the post of the President. At the relevant point
in time, there were only two nominations received for the post of President. One was that of Mr. Mathew and the other was Mr. J.B. Koshy, a
nominee of the Ernakulam, YMCA. As a result of Mr. Mathew getting out of the race, Mr. Koshy was the sole candidate left in the fray and he was
thus declared the National President for the NCYI.
9. Mr. R.S. Shettian was elected as National Treasurer. Mr. V. Asokan Solomon and Mr. Jacob Koshy were elected as the National Vice Presidents
(above 30 years) and Mr. Gaurav Kalyan as the National Vice President (below 30 years).
10. Pursuant to the notice of elections, all member YMCAs had to submit their Annual Statistical Reports (ASRs) by 30th September, 2017. A total of
498 members submitted the ASRs. Inspection was offered to the Plaintiffs in CS (OS) No. 148/2018 by the EO. At this stage, it is necessary to note
that the present  Appellants i.e. the New Delhi YMCA (Appellant No.1) the Coimbatore YMCA (Appellant No.2), the Kollam (Quilon) YMCA,
(Appellant No.3), Bombay YMCA (Appellant No.4) and the Madras YMCA (Appellant No.5) were all Plaintiffs in the aforementioned suit.
IAs before the learned Single Judge
11. Subsequent to the appointment of the EO, the following IAs came to be filed before the learned Single Judge:
(i) IA No. 16209/2018 was filed by the PYMCA challenging an order dated 21 st November, 2018 passed by the EO disqualifying it.
(ii) IA No. 16979/2018 was filed by Kumplampoika YMCA (“KYMCAâ€) stating that after PYMCA was disqualified, other YMCAs ought to
have been permitted to nominate their candidates even though the last date for filing nominations had expired.
(iii) IA No. 4737/2018 was filed by the Plaintiffs seeking inter alia a direction to include YMCA Puthoor and Kunnamkulam or any other YMCAs
found suitable in the list of good standing YMCAs as on 31st December, 2017
(iv) IA No. 1893/2019 was filed to set aside the elections conducted by the EO on 2nd December, 2018 to the post of President of NCYI and to
include the Applicants in the said IA in the list of “Good Standing†YMCAs and thereafter to hold a fresh election.
(v) IA No. 2653/2019 was filed by member YMCAs seeking a direction “for the just and proper election of 11 members to the National Executive
of the Defendant No. 1 and the conduct of the National Boardâ€.
PYMCA’s IA
12. Following the judgment dated 19th July, 2018 when PYMCAâ€s IA No.16209/2018 came up for hearing before the learned Single Judge on 29th
November, 2018, the Court declined to stay the election and passed the following order:
“I.A. 16192/2018 & I.A. 16209/2018.
The elections are slated for 2nd December, 2018. The Election Officer-Justice Anil Dev Singh (Retd.) was appointed by this Court vide order dated
19th July, 2018. The Election Officer has taken a decision on 21st November, 2018. The applications have been listed today for the first time. Ld.
Counsel for Applicant submits that one of the candidates has been disqualified.
This Court is not inclined to interfere in the election process which is two days away, especially when the decision of the Election Officer is dated 21st
November, 2018.
Issue notice in the applications.
List for hearing on 17th January, 2019, the date already fixed.
A copy of this order be given dasti under signature of the Court Master.â€
13. The order dated 29th November, 2018 was challenged before the Division Bench in FAO (OS) No.179/2018 but on 4th December, 2018 it was
dismissed as withdrawn.
14. On 11th December, 2018 the learned Single Judge further considered the above applications and other applications and passed the following order:
“I.As. 16978/2018 (u/O 1 Rule 10 CPC) & 16979/2018 (u/O XXXIX Rule 1 and 2) & 16626/2018 (u/O XXXIX Rule l and 2 CPC)
2. It has been brought to the notice of the Court by way of these applications that the post of the President went uncontested in view of the fact that
the YMCA which had proposed the name of Mr. Leby Philip was disqualified and was held to be a member, of not good standing.
3. The newly elected team shall takeover and perform its functions in accordance with the constitution, memorandum and rules. Let the present
applications also be listed on the said date. Any decisions taken by, the current President who has been elected on 2nd December, 2018 shall be
subject to the outcome of the present applications and the applications which are already pending before this Court.
4. The matter is already listed on 17th January, 2019. Issue notice to the Plaintiffs. They shall file their reply within a week. Rejoinder, thereto, be filed
within one week thereafter.
5. List on 17th January, 2019, the date already fixed.
6. Dasti.†(emphasis in original)
Mani Kumar’s IA
15. Thereafter, the learned Single Judge on 17th January, 2019 dealt with another set of applications regarding the NCYI Secretary, Mr. Mani Kumar,
not handing over all the records to the new President. Inter-alia, a Local Commissioner (LC) was appointed for taking into custody all the records of
NCYI and it was directed that after the completion of the said exercise, a meeting was to be called of the President, Vice Presidents and Treasurer
on 1st February, 2019 to take a decision on the appointment of new National General Secretary for the NCYI; to decide any date of meeting of the
National Board and decide on a schedule for the conduct of elections to the National Executive.
16. Mr. Mani Kumar filed an appeal against the order dated 17th January, 2019 in which an interim order dated 29th January, 2019 was passed by the
Division Bench inter-alia observing as under:
“Till the orders are not passed on the said application to be filed by the appellant, the decision in the meeting to be held on 01.02.2019 with regard
to Item No.6 (i) i.e. appointment of National General Secretary for the National Council of YMCAs of India shall be kept in abeyance.â€
17. Subsequently, on 12th March, 2019 the DB modified the order as under:
“In the meantime, we suspend the order dated 29.01.2019 in so far as this this Court had kept in abeyance the decision in the meeting held on
01.02.2019 with regard to item no. 6 (i) i.e. appointment of National General Secretary for the National Council of YMCAs of Indiaâ€
Impugned order of the learned Single Judge
18. In the impugned judgment, the learned Single Judge has in disposing of the above IAs held as under:
i. Member YMCAs have not been following the Good Governance Policies for:
a) Maintenance of a list of members along with their full contact details, addresses etc.
b) The payment of proper affiliation fee;
c) Submission of the list of members on a regular and annual basis;
d) Obtaining of the ASRs regularly.
ii. The records of the EO show that enormous efforts have gone into the conduct of the elections even for the positions of five office bearers. Once
the good standing members†list was finalised by the EO, the YMCAs in that list did not have an opportunity to submit a proper nomination for the
election. The time gap between the publication of the list and the date of election i.e. 2nd December, 2018 was not even a week.
iii. The EO rejected the request of Mr. Asokan Solomon, the second candidate who had stepped down in favour of Mr. Lebi Philip Mathew. This
resulted in Mr. Koshy being elected unopposed as a President.
iv. Without going into the question as to whether PYMCA was rightly disqualified or not, it is sufficient to hold that adequate opportunities did not exist
for a second candidate to be nominated for the unopposed posts.
v. The election of Justice (Retd.) J. B. Koshy, though not illegal in the circumstances, as summarised by the Election Officer, the disqualification of
PYMCA and the consequential result of the President being elected unopposed, has led to injustice in respect of several member YMCAs, who were
supporting the candidature of Mr. Lebi Philip Mathew and who were not given an opportunity to nominate an alternate candidate in place of Mr.
Mathew.
vi. Under Article VI, first a list of members not in default had to be drawn up, and thereafter, nominations had to be received. However, in the present
case the reverse had taken place i.e. nominations were submitted first and the list of goods standing members was drawn up by the EO thereafter.
The list of good standing YMCAs, as drawn up by the EO, was attached to the impugned order. The remaining YMCAs were given one more chance
to comply with all the requirements of the Constitution/Memorandum/Rules and Regulations by rectifying all the defects and deficiencies by filing
returns as per Section 4 of the Societies Registration Act (“SRAâ€).
vii. Along with the election to the National Executive, fresh elections would also be held to the post of President. As regards IA No. 1892/2019 filed
by Mr. Mani Kumar, he was directed to reply to the Show Cause Notice (SCN) issued to him within three months and the National Executive was
directed to consider such response in accordance with the National Personnel Policy and take a decision, in the following terms:
“65. Upon the National Executive being elected and a decision being taken in respect of the National General Secretary, the process, if required for
appointing the National General Secretary, as per the Rules and Regulations shall commence. Until then, Mr. Bertram Devdas shall continue as the
officiating General Secretary. LA. is disposed of in the above terms.â€
19. It was further directed as under:
“the elections to the National Executive and the post of President of the Defendant No. l National Council of YMCAs of India (NCYI) shall now
be conducted by an Election Committee consisting of Justice Kurian Joseph (Retd.) and Sister Nirmalini, Member, Mumbai Archdiocesan Pastoral
Council. The entire election process shall be supervised, managed, administered by the Election Committee. They are free to fix the schedule for the
elections, dates of their meetings and the venue thereof.†(emphasis in original)
20. The learned Single Judge then proceeded to issue a whole set of directions which inter-alia required all member YMCAs to submit the returns
filed under Section 4 of the SRA to the Election Committee (“ECâ€) by 31st October, 2019; the EC to publish the list of good standing members, in
addition to the list in Appendix A to the order, before 30th November, 2019 to be treated as the first list of good standing members; all member
YMCAs eligible to participate and were in existence for at least two years prior to 31st March, 2017 and not in Appendix “Aâ€, would duly
file/rectified the list of members/returns and other documents with the Registrar of Societies in terms of Section 4 of the SRA; for every State
Corporation, Municipality and Panchayat only one member YMCA shall be allowed to be a member. If there were multiple members, they were
permitted to file their rival claims before the Election Committee, which were to be decided in accordance with the applicable Rules and Regulations.
The EC was to pass orders either rejecting the objections or if the objections were accepted and any member YMCA was disqualified, it was to give
such member YMCA the opportunity to rectify the defects. If the opportunity given to rectify the defects is availed and the deficiency continued, the
EC would pass orders disqualifying the said member. A disqualified member YMCA would not be allowed to participate in the electoral process.
21. The Single Judge further directed that upon publication of the final list of good standing members, the EC shall announce the schedule of elections
for the National Executive and for the post of President, nominations and counter nominations shall be invited; until then the current Justice (Retd.) J.
B. Koshy would continue as officiating President. He would however not take any decision which would have an impact on the electoral process, but
would be entitled to handle day to day administration of NCYI.
22. The EC was to fix the venue and date of election after broad consultation with representatives of both groups/members YMCAs. The nominations
were to be thereafter scrutinized. The Election Committee would take care to ensure that the elections are conducted in a fair and transparent manner
and complete the entire process by 31st March, 2020.
23. The Single Judge directed that upon the National Executive being elected, the meeting of the National Board shall be convened on the next date
for transacting usual business of NCYI and that the National Executive shall then take a decision on Mr. Mani Kumarâ€s suspension/disciplinary
action, if any, within three months from the date of its first meeting.
24. The learned Single Judge proceeded to appoint the earlier LC as Assistant to the EC and fixed the fee to be paid to the members of the EC and
the Local Commissioner, which were to be borne by the NCYI. Importantly, the election of the four office bearers was upheld. It was directed that
while accepting nominations for the post of President “the provisions of Article 5 and 6 and the Regional Representation†shall be borne in mind.
The EC would have the flexibility to modify the schedules/dates. However, the election process was to be completed by 31st March, 2020. Another
direction was issued in IA 4312/2019 regarding keys of the store room and the cupboard where the records of the NCYI are kept.
Orders of this Court
25. When this matter was heard first on 23rd September, 2019 the following order was passed:
“3. Notice. Notice is accepted on behalf of Respondent Nos. 1,4,5,7 and 8 by respective counsel whose names are indicated in the cause title
above.
4. It is agreed by the Respondents who appear before the Court that Justice J.B Koshy (Retired) would continue as Officiating President till the new
President is elected in terms of the impugned order.
5. It is clarified that the status quo in above terms will continue during the pendency of the present appeal.
6. Since one of the issues involved is whether election should be held to the posts of Vice Presidents (VPs) and one Treasurer and not just to the post
of President, it becomes necessary to implead the 3 VPs and 1 Treasurer who have been elected also as parties. They are accordingly impleaded as
Respondent Nos. 47 to 50 respectively to the present petition.
7. Counsel for the Appellant will file in the Court within one week, the names and addresses of the 3 VPs and 1 Treasurer along with amended memo
of parties. Notice will thereafter be issued to them as well.
8. List on 6th November, 2019.â€
26. An impleadment application CM APPL. 48384/2019 has been filed on behalf of Mr. George Mathew, the President of the Pollam YMCA seeking
intervention in the present appeal.
27. This Court has heard the submissions of Mr. Jayant Bhushan, learned senior counsel appearing for the Appellants, Mr. Jayant Mehta, learned
counsel appearing for the NCYI, Mr. Manu Krishnan for the Regional Chairman, Central India Region of the YMCAs, Mr. N. Ranjay for Mr. Lebi
Phillip Mathew and for the PYMCA and Mr. Koshy John for Mr. Mani Kumar. It must be mentioned here that all the other Respondents have been
heard as well.
28. It is clear from the impugned order of the learned Single Judge that while upholding the election of the four office bearers i.e. the three Vice
Presidents and Treasurer, it is only the election of the office of the President that has been set aside.
Submissions of counsel
29. The submission of Mr. Jayant Bhushan, learned Senior counsel for the Appellants, is that the election to the office of President could not have
been set aside only because after the disqualification of the PYMCA, Mr. Lebi Phillip Mathew was out of the race and with the nomination of Mr. V.
Asokan Solomon also being withdrawn it left only Mr. J. P. Koshy in the fray. According to the Appellants this did not per se render the election to
the office of the President invalid, as this was perfectly in accordance with the rules and bye-laws. Secondly, it is pointed out that Mr. Mathew being
out of the race resulted from the disqualification of the PYMCA and the learned Single Judge has not examined the correctness of the disqualification
of PYMCA. It is submitted that there was no occasion, therefore, for the election to the post of President to be interfered with only because there
was not sufficient time for the good standing YMCAs to send in their nominations.
30. Mr. Jayant Mehta learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1 on the other hand submitted that the learned Single Judge was fully justified in coming
to the conclusion that the election process was not fair since sufficient time was not granted to the YMCAs of good standing to send their
nominations. It is submitted that with the disqualification of PYMCA and certain other member YMCAs, the original list of YMCAs proved to be the
incorrect voters list. That could not have served as the basis of the elections. Reliance was placed on the decision in Surendra Nath Khosla vs. S.
Dalip Singh AIR 1957 SC 242 ,Chhatturbhuj Vithaldas Jasani vs. Moreshwar Parashram AIR 1954 SC 23 6and S .K. Paramasivam vs. Government
of T.N. (1998) 2 SCC 229 to urge that the elections held on the basis of an incorrect voter list were found to be set aside. He further submitted that
the rules of game could not be changed after the game had begun and in support of that proposition relied on the decisions in Maharashtra State Road
Transport Corporation v. Rajendra Bhimrao Mandve (2001) 10 SCC 51, Sandeep Kumar v. Union of India (2005) 217 DLT 670 (DB) andK .
Manjusree v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2008) 3 SCC 512.
Analysis and reasons
31. At the outset, it requires to be noticed that neither PYMCA, which has been held to be disqualified and which disqualification has not been held to
be invalid, has challenged the impugned order, which has not gone into that question. The proposition, therefore, of the validity of the disqualification of
PYMCA actually remains. The impugned order is totally vague on this aspect.
32. On the other hand, the order of the EO disqualifying the PYMCA is explicit. The EOâ€s order dated 21st November, 2018 notes as under:
“Para 25. It is shocking to see the contradiction between the stands taken by the defendant and the NGS. It is without doubt that truth is a casualty
between these two enlightened groups, who are supposed to be fighting these elections on high moral ground of being committed to Paris basis,
1855.â€
33. The EO had actually noticed that the “signature of the President/ Secretary had been allegedly forged.†In fact, PYMCA had filed IA No.
16209/2018 before the learned Single Judge to challenge the said order. The said order dated 21st November, 2018 was not set aside by the learned
Single Judge.
34. It requires to be noted that KYMCA filed IA No.16979/2018 before the learned Single Judge stating that after the disqualification of PYMCA, the
other YMCAs ought to have been permitted to nominate their candidates though the last date for filing nominations expired long ago and this had been
denied by the EO. The fact of the matter is that neither KYMCA nor any of the other YMCAs actually made any such request to the EO. It is only
Mr. V. Asokan Solomon, who filed an application although he had earlier withdrawn his nomination. This was rejected by the EO by order dated 30th
November, 2018 which reads as under:
“Re. Request of Mr. V. Asokan Solomon to call for his re-nomination to the post of National President in the forthcoming election
11. In the request letter, it is stated that he is the Vice-Presidential candidate proposed by the Nomination Committee of the NCYI and he may be
considered for the post of National President of NCYI in the ensuing elections. Mr. Mani Kumar states that he was earlier nominated for the post of
President Nagercoil but the Nomination Committee approved his candidature for one of the posts of Vice President. He accepted the same since Mr.
Leby Philip Mathews of Pathanamthitta YMCA wished to contest for the post of National President for the second tenure. According to Mr. Mani
Kumar, his candidature for the post National President needs to be considered as he is eligible for the post.
12. It cannot be denied that Mr. V. Asokan Solomon did not file any counter nomination for the post of President, when the Nomination Committee
approved the nomination of Mr. Leby Philip Mathews for the post of National President of the NCYI. In request letter dated November 23, 2018, Mr.
Asokan has requested for his re-nomination in its individual capacity. Even the letter is not accompanied by a Resolution of Board of Directors of
Nagercoil YMCA proposing his name for the post of National President of the NCYI. In the circumstances, therefore, the request of Mr. Asokan is
hereby rejected.â€
35. Interestingly, Mr. V. Asokan Solomon has not challenged the above order of the EO. Therefore, the question of any denial of opportunity to the
remaining YMCAs, after the disqualification of the PYMCA does not arise at all.
36. At this stage, it should also be noticed that a very detailed order was passed by the EO on 21st November, 2018 in relation to the PYMCA. It was
inter-alia noted that it was mandatory in terms of the notification dated 1st June, 2017 issued by the NCYI that in order to be included in the good
standing list, member YMCA had to file a valid Annual Statistical Report (ASR) as on 31st March, 2017 in the prescribed form together with the
Annual Report, Audited Statement of Accounts and minutes of the General Body Meeting. All these four documents needed the signatures of the
President and the Secretary. Since it was signed by Advocate Johnson Vilavinal who had not been validly elected as Secretary, the return submitted
was declared invalid. Further the EO noted:
“Since 4 members of the board of directors who were elected during the said meeting on May 19, 2017 that did not have the requisite quorum and
who were part of the meeting, of the Board of Directors dated May 22, 2017 cannot be said to have validly elected Mr. Abel Methew as the
President of Pathanamthitta YMCA. Therefore, ASR for the period ending March 31, 2017 signed on September 18, 2017 by Mr. Abel Mathews and
Advocate Vilavinal cannot be considered as valid ASR. In this view of the matter, for the purposes of Triennial Election of the Executive Committee
of the NCYI, the said YMCA cannot be considered to be in the good standing list of YMCAs.â€
37. All of the above findings were challenged by PYMCA in its IA before the learned Single Judge. But the learned Single Judge chose not to
examine the challenge at all. On the contrary, the learned Single Judge was of the view that question whether PYMCA was rightly disqualified or not
did have to be gone into.
38. This Court is of the view that this was a crucial question that could not have been left undecided. It was not enough to hold that “adequate
opportunities did not exist for a second candidate to be nominated†for the “unopposed post.†There was nothing wrong per se in election to a
post that could be unopposed. That is not an unusual occurrence that should invalidate an election. The learned Single Judge has rendered a
contradictory finding in para 58 of the impugned judgment. On the one hand it is held that the election of Justice (Retd.) J. B. Koshy is “not illegal
in the circumstances†and yet it is further observed that the said election must be set aside because of “the disqualification of PYMCA and the
consequential result of the President being elected unopposedâ€.
39. At this juncture, it requires to be noticed that an application was filed by the PYMCA before the EO seeking review of the order dated 21st
November, 2018. This was disposed of by the EO by a separate order dated 24th November, 2018. One of the points urged in this review application
was that PYMCA had been subjected to a level of scrutiny “which no other YMCA was subjected toâ€. The PYMCA stated in its review
application that the NYCI had earlier filed an application on 16th November, 2018 with regard to six member YMCAs stating that the AGMs had
been held by them in absence of the prescribed quorum.
40. In rejecting the review petition, the learned EO noted that at no earlier point in time did the NCYI seeking disqualification of the six YMCAs on
such a ground. The EO observed in this context as under:
“It may be pointed out that the Defendant conducts the election. It has the ASRs of all the YMCAs. It makes a list of Good Standing YMCAs. It
is not in dispute that out of more than 700 YMCAs the defendant on scrutiny conducted by it had placed only 498 YMCAs in Good Standing list. Thus,
it had excluded more than two hundred YMCAs from the list of Good Standing YMCAs. Therefore, it is obvious that the Defendant has the record
and it could have filed an application, supported by relevant record, at an early stage with the request to look into the aforesaid question of quorum
relating to such of the YMCAs which according, to its opinion had held AGMs for election of their respective Board of Directors by flouting the
requirement of quorum. Even in this application no instances have been cited or any record has been filed to show the illegality in holding the AGMs
by YMCAs. In case of Pathanamthitta YMCA, the plaintiff had challenged its inclusion in the Good Standing list of YMCAs', inter-alia, on the
question of quorum. Extensive arguments were addressed by both sides on the basis of documents and the relevant rules and regulations. Therefore,
the points raised were required to be dealt with.â€
41. With PYMCA standing disqualified, Mr. Lebi Phillip Mathew obviously had to be out of the race. Mr. V. Asokan Solomon has not questioned the
rejection by the EO of his request to be permitted to file a nomination paper. That order of the EO was also not challenged.
42. The upshot of the above discussion is that the disqualification of PYMCA on merits has been allowed to stand. The learned Single Judge has failed
to deal with that challenge altogether.
43. The question that arises is whether there was any inherent flaw in the election to the post of President going unopposed. The scheme of the
Memorandum of Association of the NCYI is to have a regional representation in the National Executive. Article VI of the Memorandum of
Association of NCYI provides for the procedure for election at the convention. The members of the good standing member YMCAs are expected to
send proposals at least four months before the date fixed for the commencement of the convention. Therefore, the question of the member of YMCA
not getting a chance to file nominations cannot be said to have arisen. In other words, notwithstanding that the disqualification of the PYMCA took
place on 23rd November, 2018 and the election was fixed for 2nd December, 2018, no injustice per se would have been caused.
44. There was sufficient time for PYMCA prior to its disqualification to have rectified the defects. The very idea of the learned Single Judge by the
order dated 19th July, 2018 appointing an EO to sort out the disputes and put in place a system to hold elections in a fair manner gave the member
YMCAs sufficient time to rectify the defects if they chose to do so. There was no occasion to give one more opportunity for all of them after the
judgment dated 19th July, 2018.
45. Another important aspect of the matter is that by not interfering with the election of the Treasurer and Vice Presidents but only with the election
of the President, the learned Single Judge has in fact disturbed the very scheme of the election. In terms of Article 11 there are geographical regions
and Article 5 (3) (b) states that the President and Vice President and Treasurer “should be elected from different regionsâ€. In this scheme, the
President is supposed to be elected first, then the Treasurer and thereafter, the Vice Presidents. Under Article 5 (3)(c) when the elected President
belongs to a particular region, the Treasurer to be elected cannot belong to the same region. Likewise, the Vice President to be elected cannot
belonged to the same region as the President and/or the Treasurer.
46. As a result of the impugned order of the learned Single Judge, with the elections to the posts of the three VPs and Treasurer being upheld, if only
the post of President were to be interfered with, then those regions represented by the three VPs and the Treasurer cannot send nominees for the
post of President. This is contrary to the Memorandum of Association of the NCYI. This is an aspect not kept in view by the learned Single Judge. In
other words, the direction issued to only have a fresh election for the post of President is clearly contrary to the memorandum of the YMCA.
47. The reliance placed by counsel for the Respondents on decisions to urge that the rules of the game cannot be changed after the game has
commenced, would not be applicable for the simple reason that it is the impugned order of the learned Single Judge that seeks to change the rules of
the game. In other words, the Memorandum, as it exists, does not contemplate that an election to a post would be rendered invalid if it is unopposed. It
is possible that the election to a post is unopposed for some reason or the other. By insisting that the election to every post must be contested, a new
rule has been introduced. Likewise, the memorandum already has a requirement for participation only by the good standing YMCAs. That is what
was sought to be enforced by the EO. That rule was not changed at all.
48. The question of an incorrect voters†list having an impact on the elections is what led to the passing of the order dated 19th July, 2018 in the first
place. The EO appointed by this learned Single Judge meticulously carried out the exercise of determining the good standing YMCAs in terms of the
directions issued. The EO in fact prepared the correct voters list. That had to then be carried to its logical end. Therefore, none of the decisions cited
by the Respondents is of assistance to their case.
49. The mere fact that there was a short time gap between the disqualification of PYMCA and the date of election would not impact the outcome of
the election per se. If indeed the elections to the posts of the three VPs and Treasurer have remained unchallenged, and have in fact been upheld by
the learned Single Judge, the question of only interfering with the election to the post of President cannot in the facts and circumstances of the case be
said to be warranted. It is clarified that, the extension of time limit for the disqualified YMCAs to make good the deficiency would not affect the result
of the election to the post of President already held.
50. For the aforementioned reasons the impugned order dated 19th July 2019 of the learned Single Judge to the extent it sets aside the election of
Justice (Retd.) J.B. Koshy to the post of President is hereby set aside. The results already declared of the elections held by the earlier EO are
approved and further steps shall be taken on that basis.
51. As a result the EC appointed by the impugned judgment will proceed to hold elections to the National Executive and the National Board. A
schedule is required to be drawn up for that purpose. The Court requests the EC appointed by the learned Single Judge by the impugned order to now
announce a schedule for the elections of the National Executive and National Board in accordance with the Memorandum of Association of the
NCYI and complete that exercise by 31st March, 2020.
52. The appeal is disposed of with the above directions. The pending applications are also disposed of.
