Locus standi of club member in managerial disputes: an individual member cannot separately challenge matters reserved to the corporate body.

A member of a corporate body has no independent right to challenge an order affecting the body's managerial affairs unless he can show a separate legal right under the statute or bye-laws. The Court applied the principle that the corporate body alone acts and speaks for its members in matters concerning its own affairs, and that notice to the body satisfies the hearing requirement for its members. The writ challenge to the club's licensing conditions and managerial appointments was therefore not maintainable by the individual member.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner, as a member of the club, had locus standi to challenge the impugned order affecting the club's managerial powers, and whether the club alone was entitled to maintain the writ petition.

Analysis: The petitioner's grievance was directed against an order concerning the club's licensing conditions and managerial appointments. The Court applied the principle that once a person becomes a member of a corporate body, the member has no independent rights apart from those conferred by the statute and the bye-laws, and must act through the club in matters affecting the body corporate. Relying on the principle that notice to the society or corporate body satisfies the requirement of hearing its members, the Court held that the challenge to the club's managerial affairs could not be maintained by an individual member in his personal capacity.

Conclusion: The petitioner had no locus standi to maintain the writ petition, and the challenge was not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An individual member of a corporate body cannot maintain a writ challenge to an affecting the body's managerial rights unless the member shows an independent legal right, because the body corporate alone acts and speaks for its members in matters concerning its own affairs.

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