H.A. Martin and Others Vs. Moses Thambi Pillai and Others
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Head Note
The Societies Registration Act, 1860 - Section 4 , Section 53
Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) - Is not a society - Apex court held that when it is not a society the question of exemption and not to exemption from application of Societies Registration Act - Does not arise - All the officers and all the court below failed to take notice of the same under sec. 4 of the Act - Apex court held that In our opinion, the expression "Societies" (registered under the 1860 Act) occurring in Section 53 must be understood to mean only those Societies which do not fall under the exemption granted under Section 4(3) of the Act - Unless the expression "Societies" occurring under Section 53 of the Act is understood to mean Societies other than those whose object is promotion of religion, atheletics or sports, the Act would result in creation of two classes of Societies having the same object, but one class is subjected to the discipline of the Act and the other class exempted from it - All other things being equal except the accident of an existing Society on the date of the Act also happens to be a Society registered under the 1860 Act - Such an interpretation which would be in violation of Article 14 is certainly required to be avoided - There can neither be any reasonable basis for such classification nor any purpose to be achieved by such classification. Therefore, the Act is not applicable to TELC at all - Looked at in the abovementioned background of the statutory scheme, we are of the opinion that the entire litigation between the parties herein is without any basis in law - It resulted in wastage of time of the judiciary as well as the administration. Apparently neither of the parties nor the administration had the time to examine or inclination to examine the scheme of the 1975 Act. We are sorry to say, even the judiciary (Bar & Bench) did not do any better - In view of our above conclusion, it is really not necessary for us to examine various submissions made in this appeal by both the parties as all the submissions proceeded on the assumption that TELC is a Society governed by the provisions of the Act - For the above reasons, the appeal is allowed - The judgment under appeal is set- aside - The second respondent, if he still has any legally tenable grievance de hors the 1975 Act, is free to pursue such remedy to him under the law.
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