Allahabad HC says even if its registration is cancelled, society will be considered to exist

The Allahabad High Court has recently said a society will be considered to exist even if its registration has been canceled.

A single-judge bench of Justice Yashwant Verma passed this order while hearing Writ Petition filed by Udai Pratap Education Society.

The respondents have taken a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the Writ Petition and contend that against the order passed here, an appeal would lie to the Commissioner in terms of the provisions made in Section 12D(2) of the Societies Registration Act 1860.

Manish Goyal, Additional Advocate General, submitted that the petition at the behest of the society would not be maintainable since once the certificate of registration comes to be cancelled, it ceases to exist in the eyes of law.

Naveen Sinha, Senior Counsel for the Petitioner, stated that the order which is purported to have been made by virtue of powers conferred by Section 12D would not sustain since it is not shown to be based on any of the grounds on the basis of which the registration of a society may be lawfully cancelled.

Sinha submits that the order also fails to record any finding with respect to misrepresentation or fraud so as to bring it within the ambit of clause [c] of Section 12D of.

It was stated that since the order is clearly without jurisdiction, the objections are liable to be turned down.

The Court noted that it would be pertinent to bear in mind that the registration of a society under the 1860 Act neither extends to that body the benefits nor confers the status of “incorporation” as generally understood in law and also does not bestow a society with a separate or legally distinct personality.

It would therefore be incorrect to hold that the association of persons ceases to exist upon the certificate of registration being cancelled.

The Court has stayed the state government’s order of January 29, 2021, for setting up a new society in place of Uday Pratap Education Society of Varanasi as out of the jurisdiction and sought a response from the state government on the Petition within three weeks.

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