Maintainability of writ against contractual termination of a company Managing Director failed where no statutory breach or stigma was shown.

A writ petition under Article 226 was held not maintainable to challenge termination of a Managing Director appointed under a company's Articles of Association, because the appointment and removal were governed by a non-statutory contractual arrangement. The termination was treated as simpliciter, without stigma, and no breach of a mandatory statutory provision or enforceable right to reinstatement was shown. The Court indicated that a remedy, if available, would lie in damages for wrongful dismissal rather than enforcement of a contract of personal service through writ jurisdiction. The separate opinion agreed that the petition disclosed no basis for relief on the pleaded grounds.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 was maintainable to challenge the termination of the Managing Director appointed under the Articles of Association of a Government company, and whether the termination was vitiated by arbitrariness, stigma, or violation of natural justice.

Analysis: The appointment and removal of the Managing Director were governed by the Articles of Association, which were not statutory in character. The impugned action arose from the contractual arrangement between the company and the petitioner and did not involve breach of any mandatory statutory provision. The termination order was found to be simpliciter, without stigma, and the record did not disclose any enforceable right to reinstatement in writ jurisdiction. The Court held that the proper remedy, if any, lay in damages for wrongful dismissal, not in enforcement of a contract of personal service through a writ petition. The separate opinion concurred that the petition was not maintainable and that no relief could be granted on the pleaded grounds.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable for enforcement of the petitioner's contractual service rights, and the challenge to the termination failed.

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