Mumbai, June 24: The long-running dispute over the administration and election process of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai has entered a third round of litigation, with eight members approaching the Bombay High Court challenging orders passed by the Charity Commissioner.
The petition, led by trade union leader Vivek Monteiro, seeks to quash the Charity Commissioner’s March 2026 orders that superseded the Society’s Managing Committee and Scrutinising Committee and appointed an ad hoc committee to run the institution. The petitioners contend that their memberships and voting rights were effectively cancelled without notice or an opportunity to be heard.
The fresh challenge comes despite the High Court having twice upheld the election process based on a revised voters’ list that excluded over 1,400 members admitted after the election process had commenced.
Earlier High Court Orders
In April this year, the High Court cleared the way for fresh elections under official supervision. It dismissed petitions filed by senior journalist and former Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Ketkar and others challenging the Charity Commissioner’s intervention in the Society’s administration and elections.
The court upheld the March 2026 orders appointing a “fit person” to oversee the Society’s affairs and directing preparation of a fresh voters’ list before elections.
It found no “patent illegality or manifest arbitrariness” in the orders, noting that the Managing Committee had continued beyond its tenure and that the admission of more than 1,400 members after the election process began had raised concerns about the integrity of the voters’ list.
Members Challenge Disqualification
In the fresh petition, the members argue that they were validly admitted and that their memberships were annulled without any show-cause notice or personal hearing. They contend that the Charity Commissioner’s action halted an ongoing election process and unlawfully deprived them of their right to vote.
The dispute stems from objections raised to change reports filed by the Society’s Managing Committee. The petitioners allege that the objections were filed beyond the statutory time limit and that the Assistant Charity Commissioner rejected the change reports on “hyper-technical grounds” without hearing the affected elected members.
They have also relied on a November 2025 Division Bench judgment, which, according to them, held that the Charity Commissioner had no authority to interfere with the Society’s election process. Despite this, they claim the election process was again disrupted through the March 2026 orders.
The petition also challenges the appointment of the ad hoc committee, alleging that some of its members were themselves disqualified under the Society’s rules.
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Matter Listed Before High Court
Another set of members, however, claimed the petition is not maintainable since the petition indirectly seeks the same relief as the earlier two petitions, wherein the High Court upheld the deletion of the names of the additional 1,400 members.
The plea was mentioned before a bench of Justice N.J. Jamadar and has been kept for hearing on July 6, two days after the scheduled elections.
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