Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday orally observed that polls for the managing committee of the Asiatic Society can be held under supervision of an administrator appointed by the charity commissioner, but posted a row over the election for formal orders on Friday. Justice Farhan Dubash said the issue needs a practical order for a fresh election process after disputes emerged regarding voter list scrutiny.
Former Rajya Sabha member Kumar Ketkar and three others petitioned the HC to challenge a March 13 order of charity commissioner (CC) Amogh Kaloti that deferred elections and ordered preparation of a fresh list of eligible voters through sub-committees. The HC heard their senior counsel Atul Damle and State Advocate General Milind Sathe and is expected to pass orders on Friday in the poll process that ran into legal trouble after a March 13 stay by the CC of the originally scheduled March 14 elections.
The HC had earlier found no fault in the CC's stay and did not vacate it, but on April 8, Justice Dubash stayed the implementation of the "last-minute" order. Until a new managing committee is formed, The Asiatic Society's affairs will be overseen by an observer and a sub-committee comprising five members.
The poll is for 19 seats among contesting panels led by Ketkar and member Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, each.
The CC had directed the constitution of sub-committees for preparation of valid and eligible voters. The CC also said that an inquiry showed how "2050 rare books" were missing. A member, Deepak Pawar, sought a stay of the CC's order last month, but Justice Jitendra Jain on March 14 said: "There are serious lapses in the functioning of the society prima facie at least."
The Asiatic Society was set up in 1804 by Sir James Mackintosh, the Recorder or King's Judge for Bombay (as it was then called), to promote research and knowledge in arts, science, culture regarding India.
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Swati Deshpande is Senior editor at The Times of India, Mumbai, w...
Read MoreSwati Deshpande is Senior editor at The Times of India, Mumbai, where she has been covering courts for over a decade. She is passionate about law and works towards enlightening people about their statutory, legal and fundamental rights. She makes it her job to decipher for the public the truth, be it in an intricate civil dispute or in a gruesome criminal case.
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