Kerala High Court Orders Removal Of Vellapally Natesan As SNDP General Secretary

The Kerala High Court on Thursday (March 12) ordered the removal of Vellappally Natesan as the General Secretary of the Aruvipuram Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP Yogam).

Justice T.R. Ravi passed the decision while considering two writ petitions.

One of these was filed by Professor M.K. Sanoo and Adv. M.K. Saseendran, who were members of the Yogam. In the plea, it is stated that the annual returns of the Yogam had not been filed from 2006 onwards and the State Government had appointed the Inspector General of Registration as an officer to adjudicate the matter.

It is further stated that Professor M.K. Sanoo had sent a representation before the IG contending that Natesan and the three other office bearers are disqualified under Section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013. They contended that the Yogam, being a registered company, is governed by the Companies Act and as per the afore provision, if the office bearers do not file annual returns for three consecutive years, they would be disqualified for a period of 5 years.

The Court had opined that directors of the Yogam were disqualified since they failed to file audited accounts for 3 consecutive years, in violation of the provisions of the Companies Act. Therefore, the office bearers, including Natesan, were found to be disqualified.

It was declared that the the four office bearers are not eligible to be re-appointed as Directors in view of non-compliance with the requirements of Section 164(2) of the Companies Act.

Further, the Court declared that no person shall be eligible to be appointed/re-appointed as Director of the SNDP Yogam unless they possess a Director Identification Number (DIN) which is issued by the State Government under the provisions of Kerala Non-Trading Companies Act, 1961 read with the Companies Act.

A declaration was made that the office bearers are not holding office in accordance with the requirements of the Kerala Act read with the Companies Act, 2013 since admittedly none of them have a DIN issued by the State Government.

They were declared to have vacated office under Section 167(1)(a) of the Companies Act as they are disqualified under Section 164(1)(h) of the Act.

The State government is directed to take necessary measures contemplated under Section 167(3) for appointing required number of Directors to hold office till Directors are appointed by the Company in the general meeting.

The Inspector General of Registration is directed to take consequential action under Section 167(2) in view of the declaration that the afore office bearers have vacated office of the Director owing to disqualification under Section 164(1)(h).

The writ petition was filed seeking interim directions from the High Court for appointing an Administrator/Receiver for carrying out the management and day to day affairs of the Aruvipuram Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam and for restraining Natesan from making any appointment in any of the educational institutions of the Yogam and from taking any disciplinary action against the Office bearers of the Unions and branches of the SNDP Yogam.

Case No: WP(C) 8095/ 2024 and connected cases

Case Title: Professor M.K. Sanoo v. State of Kerala and connected cases

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 145

Counsel for the petitioners: P.B. Krishnan (Sr.), Manu Vyasan Peter, P.B. Subramyan, Sabu George, K.P. Prasanth, D. Anil Kumar, K.T. Shyamkumar, Harish R. Menon, K.N. Abha, R. Revikumar, A.G. Prasanth, Aleena Sebastian

Counsel for the respondents: Udaya Holla (Sr.), Meghana Ballal, A.N. Rajan Babu, C.E. Unnikrishnan - Spl. G.P To A.G, V.P. Brijesh, Aswathy Amby

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