IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.3175 of 2009 Between: FATHER CHOPPARAPU JOJAIAH EDUCATIONALSOCIETY, Pothurajupalem Ongole, Prakasam District. Rep by its President, Fr.P.Ignatius, S/o. Balireddy, aged 73, R/o. Pothurajupalem Ongole, Prakasam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Federal Bank, Rep by its Branch Manager, Ongole, Prakasam district. 2 The Federal Bank Limited, Head Office, Rep by its General manager, (Planning & Development), Planning Department, Head Office, Federal Towers, Aluva-683101, Kerala State. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st respondent to permit the petitioner and the secretary of the petitioner society as per the minutes dated 2-3-2009 duly registered with the District Registrar to operate the bank transaction of the petitioner society with the 1st respondent bearing A/c No.13510200003625 in spite of the representations dated 9-2-2009 and 12-2-2009 as illegal, arbitrary, unjust, in violation of principles of natural justice, Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India and consequently direct the 1st respondent to permit the petitioner and the secretary to the petitioner society to operate the bank transactions of the petitioner society in A/c No.13510200003625. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.M.VENKATA NARAYANA Counsel for the Respondents: The Court made the following: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.3175 of 2009 ORDER: According to the deponent, who claims to be the President of the petitioner Society, after the death of the former President of the petitioner Society on 27.11.2008, he was appointed to the said post on 03.02.2009 as per the proceedings of the General Body and the same was approved by the District Registrar, Ongole, who is the competent authority under the A.P. Societies Registration Act, 2001. It is his case that the petitioner Society is having a bank account with the 1st respondent bank and the same is to be operated by the President and Secretary of the Society jointly, and, therefore, after his appointment as President, the Secretary of the Society submitted a representation to the 1st respondent, on 09.02.2009, requesting it to permit the deponent to operate the said bank account as her co-signatory. The grievance of the deponent is that, in spite of such representation, the 1st respondent refused to permit him to operate the said bank account and, therefore, the Secretary of the Society, while submitting another representation to the 1st respondent on 12.02.2009, gave a complaint on the same day to the General Manager (Planning & Development) of the Head Office of the bank, the 2nd respondent herein, explaining the aforesaid facts and seeking directions to the 1st respondent to permit the deponent to operate the account of the petitioner Society, but no action has been taken thereon till date. Hence, this writ petition. It is to be noted that as against the impugned action of the respondents, the petitioner has an effective remedy before the Ombudsman and, therefore, the relief as sought for cannot be granted by this Court, in exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The writ petition is, therefore, liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed, granting liberty to the petitioner to approach the Ombudsman for redressal of its grievances. No order as to costs. _________________ JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA 18th February, 2009 IBL