KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday said every member of SNDP Yogam had the right to vote at any election conducted by the organisation. While it observed that this does not nullify the Yogam’s meetings or elections held earlier, the court said the decisions taken at the meetings to restrict voting rights won’t be legal. Justice T R Ravi said this while allowing a writ petition filed by V Vijayakumar and another person from Kollam against the decision restricting voting rights to one representative for every 200 persons.
The Judge also set aside the Centre’s order issued under section 25 (6) of the Companies Act, 1956, exempting the Yogam from the provisions that allowed voting rights to all members in general body meetings.
The court had earlier struck down Clause 47 of the Act, which restricted voting rights to one representative for every 100 persons, on the ground that the Yogam was not granted an exemption by the Centre from the ‘one member, one vote’ pattern. So, the Yogam incorporated Clause 44 in its articles of association, allowing one vote for every 200 members after obtaining an exemption from the Centre.
The court observed that while considering the application for exemption in 1974, the Centre overlooked the aspect that the Yogam was governed by the Kerala Non-Trading Companies Act which came into force in 1962. When the Act was applicable, a request for exemption under Section 25 of Companies Act, 1956, could only be considered by the state government and not the Centre.
“The right to vote could only have been taken away by a legal order issued by the appropriate government,” said the court, adding that the Centre’s exemption was not legal as it was not issued by the competent authority.