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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> </head> <body> <div style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:12px; text-align:justify"> <table width="800" border="0" style="border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px;" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> High Court of Karnataka Dispute regarding election cannot be entertained by present Court in view of alternative and efficacious remedy available MANU/KA/3179/2019 - (21 May 2019) </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Vinod S. Salian Vs. The State of Karnataka and Ors.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" style="background-color:#FDEDCE">The Petitioner has challenged the list of the nomination paper prepared by Respondent No. 5, whereby the candidature and nomination of the Petitioner has been rejected for the election scheduled to be held on 25th May, 2019 to the Respondent No. 9-Union. 
The Petitioner would submit that, the Petitioner's nomination paper has been rejected, without assigning any valid and proper reason and also not providing any opportunity of hearing. Hence, alternative remedy available under Section 70 of the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959 (Act) is no bar to invoke the writ jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. 
It is a well settled law that, no dispute regarding the election can be entertained by this Court, more particularly, in view of the alternative and efficacious remedy available under Section 70 of the Act. The provision contemplated that any dispute arising in connection with the election of a President, Vice-President or any office bearer or Member of board of the Society, shall be deemed to be the dispute touching the constitution, management, or the business of a Co-operative Society and such dispute shall be referred to the Registrar for decision who shall have the jurisdiction to entertain any suit or other proceedings in respect of such dispute. 
In the present case, Section 70(2)(C) of the Act provides for adjudication of Election disputes by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies. Present Court in number of cases has already held that, the rejection of the nomination paper requires to be adjudicated under Section 70 of the Act and has relegated the Petitioner/s to avail the remedy available under Section 70 of the Act. 
It is not in dispute that, the Hon'ble Apex Court in Bharati Reddy's case has held that, power of judicial review under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India is an essential feature, which neither be tinkered with nor eroded, even the Constitution cannot be amended to erode basic structure of Constitution. Therefore, it cannot be said that, the writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution is not maintainable. However, it is left to the discretion of the Court exercising the power under Articles 226/227 to entertain the writ petition. 
However, in view of the categorical finding of the Hon'ble Apex Court that, the Court exercising the power under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution has to exercise the discretion to entertain the writ petition, this Court is of the view that the rejection of the nomination paper based on the factual aspect requires to be considered by the Registrar in terms of Section 70 of the Act, the machinery provided for determination of dispute arising out of elections more particularly, the right to vote, contest or dispute election being a statutory right regulated by statutory provisions. Hence, the writ petition filed by the Petitioner by-passing the statutory remedy available under the Act cannot be entertained. Writ petition stands dismissed with liberty to the Petitioner to avail the remedy of settlement of disputes available under Section 70 of the Act, 1959, in accordance with law.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" >Relevant : Bharati Reddy vs. The State of Karnataka and Ors. <manuid>MANU/SC/1034/2017</manuid></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" >Tags : Nomination, Rejection, Alternative remedy</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr>  <td align="left" valign="top">Source : newsroom.manupatra.com</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Regards</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Team Manupatra</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </div> </body> </html>