The High Court Division Bench on Monday stayed the order of the single bench, which disqualified  all the office-bearers of the SNDP Yogam, including General Secretary Vellappally Natesan.

The order was issued by Justice T R Ravi on March 12, while considering a writ petition filed by SNDP Yogam Samrakshana Samithi.

The petition filed by S Chandrasenan, Chairman of the Samithi and writer M K Sanu, prayed to the court to grant an order prohibiting SNDP Yogam and its functionaries from exercising any supervisory powers on unions and sakhas and their members and to appoint an administration to conduct the affairs of SNDP Yogam in the place of the Board of Directors.

Vellappally Natesan and Thushar Vellappally then moved an appeal before the HC division bench and requested a stay of the operation and implementation of the single judge's order.

The HC bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Judge Syam Kumar V M, earlier ordered that the status quo shall continue. 

The main contention of Natesan was that the original plea pertaining to the Companies Act was not maintainable in the High Court and that the parties should have approached the National Company Law Tribunal.

In the appeal, Natesan contended that the writ petitions were not maintainable since the dispute relates to the alleged disqualification of Directors and internal management of a company governed by the Companies Act, 2013. Such issues fall within the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal.

"Section 430 of the Companies Act expressly bars the jurisdiction of civil courts and other forums in matters which the Tribunal is empowered to determine. The learned Single Judge nevertheless proceeded to adjudicate upon the alleged disqualification of Directors and issued consequential directions affecting the composition of the Board of Directors, thereby committing a fundamental jurisdictional error," the petition stated.

It further said that the judgment of the Single Judge suffered from serious jurisdictional error, failure to follow binding precedent, incorrect appreciation of facts relating to filing of returns and erroneous interpretation of the statutory provisions relating to DIN (Director Identification Number) and disqualification of Director.

It is learnt that the division bench agreed to this contention and issued the stay order. A detailed order will be published later. With the stay on the single-bench order in place, Vellappally Natesan and other members can continue as office-bearers.