Madras High Court refuses to reject suit against continuance of Nadigar Sangam office-bearers after expiry of term

The Madras High Court, on Wednesday (July 1, 2026), refused to reject a civil suit filed last year against the continuance of actors Nasser, Vishal Krishna and Karthi as president, general secretary and treasurer, respectively, of the South Indian Artistes Association, popularly known as Nadigar Sangam, even after the expiry of their three-year elected term on March 19, 2025.

Justice A.D. Maria Clete dismissed an application filed by the association member S.R. Sekar to reject the plaint filed by another member V. Nambirajan, questioning the continuance of the office-bearers even after the completion of their tenure. The plaintiff had challenged a resolution passed at the 68^th annual general meeting (AGM) on September 8, 2024, permitting them to continue in office till 2028.

The association contended before the court that the AGM had decided to permit the office-bearers, elected in 2022, to continue in office till 2028 in order to enable them to complete the construction of a multi-crore-rupee-worth convention hall, which was a dream project of the association. It was also stated that spending ₹40 lakh for the elections, before completing the convention hall, would cause a financial strain on the association.

Further, the court was told the association had expressed all these difficulties to the Registration department officials and, based on their recommendation, the Tamil Nadu government had issued a Government Order (G.O.) on October 14, 2025, extending the tenure of the office-bearers of Nadigar Sangam till March 19, 2028 and exempted it from conducting elections till then.

Nadigar Sangam counsel Krishna Ravindran had argued the plaintiff could not maintain the suit without challenging the G.O. in the manner known to law. He had contended the plaintiff would not be able to obtain any relief even if the suit gets decreed in his favour since the G.O. issued under Section 54 of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act of 1975 would remain in operation.

The counsel had highlighted that the 1975 Act empowers the government to exempt registered socieities from conducting elections if it was satisfied with the reasons cited by the society concerned for not being able to hold elections once in every three years.