Kerala HC division bench stays disqualification of SNDP Yogam Leadership

The Kerala High Court on Monday stayed a single bench order that had disqualified the office-bearers and Board of Directors of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP Yogam), including its general secretary Vellappally Natesan, over alleged violations of statutory provisions under the Companies Act, 2013.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M granted the interim stay on the order passed by Justice T R Ravi , which had removed the entire leadership of the organisation following petitions alleging irregularities in its functioning.

The petitions, including one filed by late scholar M K Sanoo, had raised concerns over alleged non-compliance with corporate governance norms, irregularities in the management of the board, and procedural lapses under company law. However, no final determination on these allegations has been made.

Apart from Natesan, the single bench had also disqualified Thushar Vellappally, M N Soman and Santhosh (Arayakkandil Santhosh) from the Board of Directors.

Challenging the order, the SNDP Yogam leadership contended that matters relating to disqualification of directors and management of a company fall within the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) , and that the writ petitions before the High Court were not maintainable.

Earlier, on March 19, the division bench had directed the parties to maintain the status quo. Upon further hearing on Monday, the court stayed the operation of the single bench order, allowing the existing office-bearers to continue in their roles for the time being.

The stay is interim in nature, and the High Court is expected to examine key legal questions, including the maintainability of the petitions and the validity of the disqualification, in subsequent proceedings.