S C LAW Vs. K S ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two applications moved under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure are taken up together and are disposed of by one common order as the facts and the point involved in both the applications are common. The facts which have given rise to the present dispute are as follows: The petitioner Dr. S. C. Law is a member of the Governing Body of the Calcutta Medical Aid and Research Society (hereinafter referred to as the Society) which runs K. S. Roy T. B. Hospital, Jadavpur. A meeting of the Governing Body of the said Society was convened to be held on the 8th April, 1970, at the residence of late Pashupati Nath Ghosh, the then President of the Society at 5-30 P. M. A General Meeting of the said Society was also stated to have been convened on the same day and at the same place for the purpose of electing the office-bearers of the Society. It is alleged that the meeting of the Governing Body was duly held at the appointed date but as the said meeting continued till about 7-40 P. M., the President decided not to hold the General Meeting on that date and adjourned it to a future date. The dispute has arisen because this version of the petitioner is not accepted by certain other members of the Society according to whom the Annual General Meeting was duly held on the 8th April, 1970 at 7-20 P. M. The dispute as to whether any General Meeting was held on 8th April, 1970 has led to the institution of two suits by the rival parties before the 4th Munsif, Alipore. The first suit was instituted on 16th April, 1970 by Sri S. C. Sen Gupta claiming himself to be a trustee elected at the Annual General Meeting purported to have been held on 8th April, 1970 at 7-20 P. M. for a declaration that the Annual General Meeting of the Society was held on 8th April, 1970 and a valid resolution was passed and also for a declaration that since 8-4-1970, Sri P. N. Ghosh (now deceased), defendant No. 1 and Dr. S. C. Law (petitioner-defendant No. 2) had ceased to be the President and Secretary of the Society. Permanent injunction restraining the defendants Nos. 1 and 2 from interfering with the management of the newly elected Governing Body and a mandatory injunction were also prayed for in the suit. The said suit is numbered as T. S. 100 of 70 in the Court of Fourth Munsiff, Alipore. The second suit was instituted on 18th April, 1970 by Dr. S. C. Law, the present petitioner representing the existing Governing Body of the Society in the first Court of Munsif at Alipore for a declaration that on 8-4-1970 the Annual General Meeting of the Society was adjourned as per resolution passed and for a declaration that the alleged proceedings of the purported General Meeting dated 8-4-1970 are invalid and that the newly elected Governing Body as constituted on 8-4-1970 had no legal, valid or constitutional existence. In the said suit, the defendants included Sri S. C. Sen Gupta and Shri Profulla Chandra Sen, who were plaintiffs in the other suit i. e. T. S. No. 100 of 1970 in the Court of Fourth Munsiff, Alipore.

(2.) The Title Suit No. 140 of 1970 at the Court of the First Munsif, Alipore was transferred to the Court of the Fourth Munsif, Alipore, for analogous hearing and was renumbered as Title Suit No. 86 of 1971. The hearing of the said suit/suits commenced on 18th August, 1972 and it is stated that the plaintiff in T. S. No. 100 of 1970 closed his evidence on 5th February, 1973 and the evidence on behalf of defendant commenced thereafter.

(3.) At that stage the State of West Bengal being the opposite party No. 9 in this application filed a petition under Order 1, Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure to be added as a party-defendant. The ground on which such prayer was made was the alleged mismanagement of the T. B. Hospital and the responsibility to be shared by the Stale Government in such management. The learned Munsif rejected the said prayer of the State Government on the ground that the subject-matter of the two suits was whether there was a meeting on 8th April, 1970 or the meeting was adjourned and in such a suit the Court has nothing to say on the question as to whether there has been mismanagement or not and as such the Stale Government cannot have any say in the issue as to whether there was any meeting on 8th April, 1970. The said order of the learned Munsiff was passed on 30-4-1973 and the State Government has not moved higher Court against the said order. Thereafter a petition was filed under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure before the same learned Munsif on the same ground praying for reconsideration of the order rejecting the petition under Order 1, Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure and for allowing the State of West Bengal to be added as a party-defendant in the suit. The same learned Munsiff of the 4th Court, Alipore on a consideration of the said application allowed the petition under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure and the order passed by him on 30th April, 1973 was modified and the State of West Bengal was allowed to be added as a party-defendant in both the suits.