India, April 24 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to intervene after the charity commissioner's order stayed elections to the Asiatic Society of Mumbai and ordered an interim administrative mechanism in light of irregularities in the trust's functioning and the electoral process.

A single-judge bench of Justice Farhan Dubhash noted that the charity commissioner had given adequate notice to the society's office bearers, and had also given them sufficient time to consider the report. "No case of patent illegality or manifest arbitrariness is made out by the petitioners which would warrant interference by this court," the bench said.

The dispute arose over delayed elections to the managing committee of the Asiatic Society, a pub...