MUMBAI, March 15 -- The Bombay high court on Friday evening upheld the stay imposed by the charity commissioner on the elections to the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. The elections were scheduled to be held on March 14 but the charity commissioner stayed them, citing irregularities in the voter list. Asiatic Society member Deepak Pawar had moved the HC against this stay. The court noted that serious questions had been raised about the functioning of the institution and that no election schedule for the proposed polls had been submitted before the court. Because of this, the single-judge bench of Justice Jitendra Jain refused to interfere with the order issued by the charity commissioner, also observing that there was a well-established legal principle that once an election schedule was announced, courts usually avoided interfering in the process. The charity commissioner issued an executive order on Friday at around 3.15 pm, staying the elections that were to be held the next day. This meant that the decision was communicated barely 16 hours before the scheduled polling. The sudden order led to confusion among members who were preparing to participate in the elections. Members of the Kumar Ketkar panel met at the Asiatic Society premises on Saturday afternoon after the HC's stay order. During the meeting, the panel said it would continue its efforts to protect the autonomy of the institution. Members of the panel said the last-minute stay on the elections raised serious concerns and suggested that the independence of the institution was under pressure. The panel strongly criticised the decision to halt the election process at the last moment. Members emphasised that the Asiatic Society of Mumbai was a historic institution that had completed 221 years and held great cultural, scholarly and historical importance. They said the administration of such an institution should remain free from interference. In a statement issued after the meeting, panel members said the sudden cancellation of the elections was against the principles of natural justice. They stated that uploading a legal order at the last moment did not give the affected parties enough time to read, understand and respond to it before the election process was to begin....