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Reportable

IN THE SUPREME COUR OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO.  8458  OF 2014 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No.9592 of 2012)

H.A. Martin & Others  …Appellants

Versus

Moses Thambi Pillai & Others …Respondents

J U D G M E N T

Chelameswar, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Aggrieved  by  the  judgment  dated  28.2.2011  of  the  

Division Bench of the High Court in Writ Appeal No.481 of  

2011  the  unsuccessful  appellants  therein  preferred  the  

instant appeal.

3. The appellants are three in number.  The first appellant  

Rt. Rev. Dr. H.A. Martin is the present Bishop of the Tamil

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Evangelical Lutheran Church (for short “TELC”).   The second  

appellant is shown to be the Treasure.  The details of the  

person holding such an office are not mentioned anywhere.  

The third appellant is the TELC, a body registered under the  

Societies Registration Act, 1860 which is not capable either  

of suing or being sued1.  The ‘appellants’ cannot be blamed.  

The first  respondent  herein  was  the petitioner  in  the  writ  

petition.   He chose his respondents who became the  

appellants herein.   In an era of public interest litigation,  

rules of procedure are the first casualty.

4. The facts giving rise to this litigation are as follows:

A Society came to be registered in the year 1919 called  

Tamil  Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC).   The objects of  

the Society are diffusion of Christian truth among the Tamil  

speaking  people,  various  kinds  of  “moral  and  social  

1 Section 6. Suits by and against societies.— Every society registered under this Act  may sue or be sued in the name of President, Chairman, or Principal Secretary, or  trustees, as shall be determined by the rules and regulations of the society and, in  default of such determination, in the name of such person as shall be appointed by  the governing body for the occasion:  

Provided that it shall be competent for any person having a claim, or demand  against the society, to sue the President or Chairman, or Principal Secretary or the  trustees thereof, if on application the governing body some other officer or person be  not nominated to be the defendant.

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activities,  such  as,  teaching  and  healing  through  pastoral  

evangelistic,  educational  works,  medical  work  for  the  

amelioration of the religious moral and social conditions of  

all classes of people.”

5. In the year 1975, the State of Tamil Nadu enacted the  

Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 (27 of 1975) (for  

short “the Act”).  Under Section 53 of the Act, every Society  

registered under the 1860 Act is deemed to be registered  

under the Act.  Section 53 reads as under:

“53.  Application  of  Act  to  existing  registered  societies.—  Every  society  registered  under  the  Societies Registration Act,  1860 (Central Act XXI of  1860), or under any law corresponding to this Act in  force in the transferred territory immediately before  the date of the commencement of this Act including  the  Travancore-Cochin  Literary,  Scientific  and  Charitable  Societies  Registration  Act,  1955  (Travancore-Cochin  Act  XII  of  1955),  shall  be  deemed to be registered under this Act, and the  bye-laws of such society, shall, in so far as they are  not  inconsistent  with  any  provision  of  this  Act,  continue in force until altered or rescinded.”

 (emphasis supplied)

6. It appears that an application was made by the earlier  

Bishop and the President of the TELC to the Government to  

exempt  the  TELC  from  all  the  provisions  of  the  Act  

retrospectively  from 22.4.1978.   (Unfortunately,  a  copy of  

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the representation is not made available nor any details of  

the  same  are  available  on  record).   The  Government  

declined to grant such blanket exemption and advised the  

Society to be more specific  about the provisions from the  

operation of which the Society seeks exemption.   

7. Pursuant  to  the  said  advice,  the  Secretary  of  the  

Society  made  further  representation  dated  25.7.1981  

seeking exemption from the provisions of Sections 14, 15(3)

(4)(5), 25(3), 26(1)(4), 28(1)(2), 29(3) and 36 of the Act.

8. By  G.O.  Ms.  No.1708  dated  18.12.1981,  the  

Government  of  Tamil  Nadu  exempted  the  Society  

retrospectively  from  22.4.1978  from  the  operation  of  

Sections  15(4),  25(3)  and  29(3)  of  the  Act,  the  relevant  

portion of which is extracted hereunder:

“In  exercise  of  powers  conferred  by  Section  54  of  the  Tamilnadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 (Tamil Nadu Act  27 of 1975) the Governor of Tamil Nadu hereby exempts  with retrospective effect from 22.4.1978:

1. The  President  or  Bishop  of  the  Tamil  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  alone  from  the  provision  of  sub- section (4) of Section 15 of the Tamilnadu Societies  Registration  Act  1975  regarding  the  period  of  his  

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term  that  it  should  not  exceed  more  than  three  years;  this  exemption  will  not  apply  to  the  other  members of the church council.

2. Also exempts the Church from the provision of sub- section (3) of section 25 of the Tamilnadu Societies  Registration Act 1975 so as to ratify the action  of the church in having paid the salary  from out of its fund to the President or  full time workers of the Church who come  under  the  classification  of  “Officers”  within  the  meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the said Act.

3. And also exempts the church from the provision of  sub-section  (3)  of  section  29  of  the  Tamilnadu  Societies  Registration  Act  1975  subject  to  the  condition that necessary provisions are embodied in  the bye-laws of the society for the supply of copies of  minutes  of  the  society’s  meeting  and  Financial  statements  to  the  members  at  specified  intervals,  free of charge.”

(emphasis supplied)

9. Not satisfied with the said order, the Secretary of the  

TELC  filed  the  Writ  Petition  No.523  of  1982  seeking  

declaration that the Act is void and inapplicable to the TELC  

and  its  constituent  bodies.   The  said  writ  petition  was  

dismissed  by  an  order  dated  20.2.1990,  the  operative  

portion of which reads as under:

“When the writ  petition came up for final  disposal,  learned  Government  Pleader  would  submit  that  though a counter affidavit had been filed contending  that the aforesaid provision of the Act are valid and  are not violative of constitutional provisions yet the  Government  would  consider  any  representation  

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made by the petitioner for grant of exemption in the  light  of  the  decided  cases.   Having  regard  to  this  submission of the learned Government Pleader while  dismissing the writ petition as premature and not on  merits, the petitioner is given a liberty to file a report  before  the  Government  on  or  before  31.12.1990,  pleading for grant of exemption from such provisions  of  the  Societies  Registration  Act  as  the  petitioner  may desire and on such representation being made,  orders  thereon  would  be  passed  by  the  first  respondent on or before 30th April, 1991.

It  is  of  course  necessary  to  state  that  the  Government itself had granted exemption in favour  of  the  minority  institutions  from  the  operation  of  certain provisions of the Act like sections 15, 20 and  29.  The  petitioner  seeks  relief  in  respect  of  the  remaining provisions of the Act which are mentioned  supra.”

10. In the meanwhile the predecessor-in-interest of the first  

appellant  herein,  one  Rt.  Rev.  Aruldoss,  was  elected  as  

Bishop in terms of the rules of the Society and by virtue of  

the rules of the Society he also became the President of the  

Society  (TELC).   However,  certain  differences  of  opinion  

arose between Rt. Rev. Aruldoss and some of the members  

of the Society including the first respondent herein.  The first  

respondent  herein  and  others  filed  complaints  dated  

3.8.2001  and  28.6.2002  with  the  Inspector  General  of  

Registration praying for cancellation of the G.O. Ms. No.1708  

dated 18.12.1981 etc.  The substance of the complaint was  

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that  the President and other  office bearers of  the Society  

were continuously drawing salaries from the Society’s funds.  

Such payments are prohibited under the Act and the G.O.  

Ms. No.1708 dated 18.12.1981 only ratified the action of the  

Society  in  having  paid  some amounts  till  the  date  of  the  

order but there was no exemption enabling the Society to  

make  such  payments  subsequent  to  the  date  of  the  said  

Government  order.   The Inspector  General  of  Registration  

passed an order dated 23.7.2002.

11. It is difficult to state with precision as to what are the  

contents of the said order.  But, it appears that the Inspector  

General of Registration agreed with the complaint.   

12. The  first  respondent  filed  Writ  Petition  No.32494  of  

2002  seeking  a  direction  to  the  Government  to  take  

appropriate decision on his  representation dated 3.8.2001  

seeking cancellation of the abovementioned G.O.  The said  

writ  petition was disposed of  by an order  dated 7.8.2002  

directing  the  Government  to  consider  the  petitioner’s  

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representation and pass an appropriate order on merits in  

accordance with law.

13. Pursuant to the said direction, the Government issued  

proceedings by Letter No.(Ms) No.128 dated 8.11.2002, the  

relevant portion of which reads as follows:

“(iii) Exemption from Section 25(3) of  the Act was  granted  for  ratifying  the  action  of  the  Church  in  having paid the salary from out of its funds to the  President  or  full  time  worker  of  the  Church.   The  Government only ratified the action of the Society in  having  paid  salary  from 29.4.1978  to  the  date  on  which Government order was issued and no payment  has to be made thereafter since the society was not  exempted from the above provision for the future.”

14. Thereafter, another application came to be made by the  

Bishop on 25.11.2002 seeking complete exemption from the  

operation of Section 25(3) of the Act praying as follows:

“(1) to ratify the salary paid to its workers from the  date on which the Government order was passed to  this date; and

(2) to  modify  the  exemption  so  granted  by  removing the words:

“…  or  full  time  workers  of  the  Church  who  come  under  the  classification  of  Officers  within  the  meaning of clauses (g) of Section 2 of the Act” and  substituting with the following words:

“… or any other officer of the Church Society by way  of honorarium for any service rendered by him to the  Church  Society  in  future  also  as  per  the  main  

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provisions of the Tamilnadu Registration Act of 1975,  Section 25(3)”.”

15. The  first  respondent  filed  another  Writ  Petition  

No.45886 of  2002 praying that  (i)  the proceedings of  the  

government  dated  8.11.2002  referred  to  above  be  

implemented, (ii) for a direction to forbear the Bishop from  

functioning  as  the  President  of  the  Society  (TELC),  (iii)  a  

direction for the recovery of all the amounts that have been  

paid to the President and the officers of the Society (TELC)  

from out of the funds of the Society from 19.12.1981.  The  

writ  petition  was  allowed  by  order  dated  11.12.2006.  

Aggrieved by the same, the Writ Appeal No.481 of 2007 was  

filed by the appellants herein unsuccessfully.   

16. Before we proceed to examine the correctness of the  

impugned judgment, we deem appropriate to examine the  

scheme of the Act insofar as it is relevant for the present  

purpose.

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17. Chapter  II  of  the Act  deals  with  the  constitution and  

registration of the Societies.  Section 32 stipulates that any  

Society which has for its object the promotion of education,  

literature, science, religion, charity, social reform, art, crafts  

etc. may be registered under the Act.   

2 Section 3 -  Societies which may be registered – (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), any  society which has for its  object  the promotion of education, literature,  science,  religion, charity,  social  reform, art, crafts, cottage industries, athletics, sports (including indoor games), recreation, public health,  social service, cultural activities, the diffusion of useful knowledge or such other useful object with respect   to which the State Legislature has power to make laws for the State, which may be prescribed, may be   registered under this Act.

(2)  Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) no association which has for  its  object  the  improvement  of  the  economic  condition of  workmen,  no  club  where  games  of  chance providing prizes for winners are played and no society which does not consist of at least   seven persons shall be registered under this Act.  

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18. Section 43 declares that every Society formed on or  

after the date of the commencement of the Act, consisting  

not  less  than  twenty  members;  or  whose  annual  gross  

income or expenditure in any financial year after the date of  

the commencement of the Act is not less than ten thousand  

rupees,  shall  be  registered  under  the  Act.   Section  4(2)  

stipulates  that  every  existing  Society,  NOT  registered  

under the 1860 Act  with any one of the objects specified in  

Section  3,  and  which  consists  of  not  less  than  twenty  

3 Section 4 -  Compulsory registration of certain societies  – (1) Subject to the provisions of sub- sections (3) and (4), every society formed on or after the date of the commencement of this Act, which  has for its object any object mentioned in, or prescribed under section 3, and  

(a) which consists of not less than twenty members, or  (b) whose annual gross income or expenditure in any financial year after the date of  

the commencement of this Act, is not less than ten thousand rupees,  

shall be registered under this Act within such period as may be prescribed.

(2) Every society in existence on the date of commencement of this Act, which has for its  object  any  object  mentioned  in,  or  prescribed  under  section  3  and  which  has  not  been  registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (Central Act XXI of 1860), or under any  law corresponding to this Act in force in the transferred territory immediately before the date   of the commencement of this Act including the Travancore-Cochin Literary,  Scientific and  Charitable Socieities Registration Act, 1955 (Travancore-Cochin Act XII of 1955) and  

  (i) which consists of not less than twenty members; or (ii) whose annual gross income or expenditure in any financial year after the date of  

the commencement of this Act, is not less than ten thousand rupees; or (iii) whose gross income or expenditure in any such period preceding the date of the  

commencement of this Act, was not less than such amount, as may be prescribed,   the period so prescribed,  bearing  to  twelve months the same proportion as  the  amount so prescribed bears to ten thousand rupees;

shall be registered under this Act within such period as may be prescribed.

(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to any society which has for its object the promotion   of religion, atheletics or sports (including indoor games).

Nothing contained in this Act shall be deemed to require the registration under this Act of any society formed, established,  registered or incorporated under any other law.

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members  or  whose  annual  income  or  expenditure  in  any  

financial year is not less than ten thousand rupees etc. shall  

be registered under the Act.   However,  sub-section (3)  of  

Section 4 declares that “nothing in this section shall apply to  

any Society which has for its object the promotion of religion,  

athletics or sports including indoor games”.

19. Chapter III of the Act deals with the management and  

administration  of  the  registered  Society.   Section  15(1)4  

mandates  that  every  registered  Society  shall  have  a  

committee of not less than three members to manage its  

affairs.  Section 15(4)5 limits the tenure of such members of  

the Committee for a period of three years from the date of  

their appointment.

20. Section 25(1)6 of the Act recognizes the power of the  

Society to spend such amount out of its funds as it thinks fit  

for the purposes authorised by the Act or the bye-laws of the  4 Section 15. Committee – (1) Every registered society shall  have a committee of not less than three  members to manage its affairs.  Every registered society shall file with the Registrar a copy of the register  maintained by it under sub-section (1) of Section 14 and from time to time, file with the Registrar notice of  any change among the members of the committee.  

5 Section 15(4) - The term of office of the members of the committee shall not exceed three years from the  date of their appointment. 6. Section 25 - Application of funds of a registered society.—(1) A registered society shall have power to  spend out of its funds such sums as it thinks fit on purposes authorised by this Act or its bye-laws.  

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Society.  Section 25(2)  prescribes  some restrictions  on the  

expenditure  by  the  Society,  the  details  of  which  are  not  

necessary  for  our  purpose.   Sub-section  (3)  which  is  the  

relevant  provision  for  the  decision  in  this  case  reads  as  

follows:

“Save  as  provided  in  sub-section  (2),  no  payment  shall be made out of the funds of a registered society  to the president or any other officer of the society by  way of honorarium for any service rendered by him  to the society.”

21. Various  provisions  of  the  Act  seek  to  regulate  the  

activities  of  the  Societies  registered  under  the  Act.  The  

expression “registered society” by definition under Section  

2(h)  means  a  Society  either  registered  or  deemed  to  be  

registered  under  the  Act.   Section  3  of  the  Act  specifies  

various classes of Societies which could be registered under  

the  Act  i.e.  Societies  which  have  for  their  object  the  

promotion of education, literature, science, religion, charity,  

social  reform, art,  crafts  etc.   Section 4(1)  mandates that  

Societies  which  came  into  existence  after  the  

commencement  of  the  Act  to  be  compulsorily  registered.  

Section  4(2)  mandates  the  registration  of  some  Societies  

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which were in existence as on the date of existence of the  

Act.  It can be seen from the language of Section 4(2) that  

only those existing Societies which were not registered  

either under the 1860 Act or under any other law which was  

in force in the State of Tamil Nadu prior to the 1975 Act to  

be compulsorily registered.  Such obligation to compulsorily  

register  (Societies)  arising  either  under  Section  4(1)  or  

Section 4(2) does not extend to Societies whose object is the  

promotion of religion. Because under Section 4(3), Societies  

established with the object of promoting either religion or  

atheletics  or  sports,  are  expressly  excluded  from  the  

obligations even if they answer the description of a Society  

referred to, either under Section 4(1) or 4(2).   

22. At this stage, we are required to examine the effect of  

Section 53.  No doubt, Section 53 declares that every Society  

registered  under  the  1860  Act  shall  be  deemed  to  be  

registered  under  the  1975  Act.   Question  is  –  whether  a  

Society such as TELC is  required to be treated as Society  

registered under the Act (1975 Act) in view of the operation  

of Section 53?   

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23. We are of the opinion that such a construction is not  

called  for  in  view  of  the  scheme  of  the  Act  and  more  

particularly scheme of Section 4 of the Act.  We have already  

noticed that Section 4(3) expressly excludes the operation of  

Section 4(1) and 4(2) thereby relieving both the classes of  

Societies  -  the  Societies  formed  after  coming  into  the  

existence of the 1975 Act and the Societies which were in  

existence  but  not  registered  under  any  law  prior  to  the  

commencement of the 1975 Act - covered by Section 4(1)  

and  4(2)  which  have  for  their  object  the  promotion  of  

religion.   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.  

Otherwise the operation of the Act would result in such an  

absurd situation where Societies coming into existence after  

the  commencement  of  the  Act  or  unregistered  Societies  

existing on the date of the commencement of the Act are not  

obliged to register and comply with the discipline of the Act  

but  the  existing  registered  Societies  on  the  date  of  

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commencement of the Act are obliged to comply with the  

regulatory  conditions  of  the  Act,  notwithstanding  the  fact  

that the activity of all the abovementioned three classes of  

the Societies is to promote religion.  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.  

24. 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  

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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.

25. 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.

26. 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 available to  

him under the law.

27. In the facts and circumstances of the case, there will be  

no order as to costs.

………………………….J.

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                                                             (J. Chelameswar)

……………………..….J.                                 (A.K. Sikri) New Delhi; September 04, 2014

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