Friday’s ruling was issued by Justice M R Shah on a petition by Amin’s (Congress) faction that had challenged a judgment of the city civil court. The civil court had ruled that 50 donor-members in the board were not authorised to vote in any meeting of the board.

Amin and his supporters in the board had expanded the membership from 180 to 230 by enrolling 50 new members on the pretext that they were donors. This gave Amin’s group an edge over the rival faction led by BJP’s Amit Shah.

So, when a no-confidence motion was brought against Amin and his group on March 24, 2008, it was defeated as he secured a majority with the help of the 50 donor-members.

However, Ashok Saheba of Hindu Gymkhana and Jayendra Saigal of Mahavir Cricket Club challenged the enrolment of donor-members in the city civil court and the latter ruled that donor-members had no right to vote in board meetings.