- (1.) Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Shivam Yadav for the respondent-Development Authority. M/s. Omaxe Buildhome Pvt. Ltd. are the promoters of the multi-storied building called Grand Omaxe , which consists of several flats/ apartments. Petitioner claiming to be a registered association by the name of Grand Omaxe Apartments Owners Association formed by the apartment owners of the said building, has approached this Court challenging the letter dated 11.08.2014 issued by respondent no. 2, Deputy Registrar, Meerut Division, Meerut and the order dated 05.06.2015 passed by Chief Executive Officer of respondent no. 1, Development Authority. An application for registration was presented before the Deputy Registrar through Shri P.V.S. Prasad claiming to have been elected as Secretary of the Association along with bye-laws and other relevant papers. In the said application, Major General Umong Sethi was shown to be elected as President, Rajesh Gupta as Vice President, Manish Gupta as Treasurer and Animesh Mishra, Mrs. Shilpa Panpalia, Ashish Kumar Sharma, Dipesh Jain, Rahul Rathore and Mrs. Anju Puniya as Executive Members. Another set of application was filed through Shri Srikant Tyagi alleging him to have been as elected President of the Association, Smt. Achla Singh as Vice President, Sanjay Goyal as Secretary, Smt. Kanak Murty as Joint Secretary, Manish Agrawal as Treasurer and Muktesh Shukla, Varun Kumar, R.P. Singh, Smt. Neelam Gandhi as members of the committee. Deputy Registrar though registered the society by the name of Grand Omaxe Association of Apartment Owners and issued a registration certificate dated 08.08.2014, but vide impugned letter dated 11.08.2014 informed the Chief Executive Officer of the respondent Development Authority that on account of there being a dispute between the apartment owners with respect to the elected office bearers and members of the association and two rival groups were claiming to have been elected, the bye-laws, have not been registered and the matter is being referred to him to decide the dispute with respect to elected office bearers of the association. Vide order dated 05.06.2015, Chief Executive Officer of the NOIDA Authority, though granted recognition to the Grand Omaxe Association of Apartment Owners under the U.P. Apartment Act, 2010, but referred the matter for adjudication of the dispute on election under Section 25 of the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as 'Act of 1860') to the Prescribed authority.
(2.) Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that once the registration certificate was issued, it was incumbent upon the Deputy Registrar to have registered the bye-laws and the list of the elected office bearers submitted along with application and it could not have refused to register the bye-laws and the list of elected members. It is further submitted that respondent no. 1 also committed a patent illegality in referring the dispute under Section 25 of the Act of 1860 to the Prescribed Authority. Two rival groups of the apartment owners starting claiming to have been elected as Board of Management entitled for registration of the Association. The Deputy Registrar instead of resolving the dispute between two rival groups exercising powers conferred by proviso to Section 3 (1) of Societies Registration Act, 1860 as applicable to the State of U.P. issued a registration certificate without registering the Bye-Laws. In our opinion, mere issuance of certificate of registration does not raise a presumption that society is duly registered. It is the rules and regulation and the memorandum, which could be certified under Section 19 of the Act, constitute a prima facie proof of registration. In this connection, it may be relevant to extract Section 1 to 3 of Societies Registration Act as applicable to State of U.P. "1. Societies formed by memorandum of association and registration.- Any seven or more persons associated for any literary, scientific, or charitable purpose, or for any such purpose as is described in Section 20 of this Act, may, by subscribing their names to a memorandum of association, and filing the same with the Registrar form themselves into a society under this Act. 2. Memorandum of association.- The memorandum of association shall contain the following things (that is to say)- the name of the society; the objects of the society; the names, addresses, and occupations of the governors, council, directors, committee, or other governing body to whom, by the rules of the society, the management of its affairs is entrusted. A copy of the rules and regulations of the society, certified to be a correct copy by not less than three of the members of the governing body, shall be filed with the memorandum of association. 3. Registration and fees.- (1) Upon such memorandum and certified copy being filed along with particulars of the address of the Society's office which shall be its registered address, by the Secretary of the Society on behalf of the persons subscribing to the memorandum, the Registrar shall certify under his hand that the society is registered under this Act. There shall be paid to the Registrar for every such registration a fee of five hundred rupees or such smaller fee as the State Government may notify in respect of any class of societies. Provided that the Registrar may, in his discretion, issue public notice or issue notice to such persons as he thinks fit inviting objections; if any, against the proposed registration and consider all objections that may be received by him before registering the society. (2) .......... ................ ................"
(3.) Thus, Section 1 of the Act requires that memorandum of Association shall be signed by seven or more persons by subscribing their names and filing the same with the Registrar for the purpose of forming themselves into a society. Section 2 provides that rules and regulations of the society shall be certified to be correct copy by not less than three members of the governing body while Section 3 lays down upon such memorandum and certified copy being filed, the Registrar shall certify that society is registered. It is, therefore, abundantly clear that no society can be registered unless provisions of Sections 1 and 2 of the Act have been complied with and memorandum and Rules and Regulations of the society are registered and would be available for inspection by a person, or a copy of extract of such documents could be issued by the Registrar on payment of prescribed fee as provided under Section 19 of the Act. Unless the memorandum and Rules & Regulations or Bye-Laws are registered by the Registrar, the same would not be available for inspection nor certified copies thereof could be issued. The view taken by us finds support from the decision of Privy Council in the case of Sunder Singh-Mallah Singh Sanatan Dharam High School Trust Indaura, through Trustees Vs. The Managing Committee, Sunder Singh-Mullah Singh Rajput High School, Indaura & Ors.,1938 ACJ 194 , wherein it has been observed as under. "The learned Subordinate Judge held that the Committee was not duly registered, but his decision is vitiated by his failure to give effect to Section 19. He placed the burden of proving the seven signatures to the original memorandum on the plaintiffs, and held that, in the absence of such proof, he could not hold that the Association was duly registered. The High Court reversed this finding, and held that the defendants had failed to disprove the presumption arising on the certificate of the Registrar dated December 7, 1919, Their Lordships are of opinion that the presumption arises, not on the certificate of registration granted by the Registrar under Section 3, but on the copies of the Rules and Regulations and Memorandum, certified under Section 19, which constitutes them prima facie evidence of the matter therein contained.";