The Delhi High Court has called for creation of a national database of societies whose access would be provided to all the registrars across the country to check for existing registered societies and granting registrations to new ones.
The high court said it appeared that the Registrar of Societies itself, as an authority, is under confusion as to whether it has the power to cancel registrations or not, which is reflected in differing stands that it takes in various writ petitions.
Justice Prathiba M Singh said the court was of the view that there is an imminent need to consider amendments in the Societies Registration Act, 1860, as it applies to
Delhi, for including provisions to safeguard the rights of third parties who may have grievances with the grant of registration to a particular society.
The high court said the Registrar of Societies also ought to be an authority which exercises the responsibility of granting registrations to a society after at least doing a basic check as to whether a society with an identical/ similar name exists or not.
“For this purpose, a national database of societies may have to be created and access of the same would have to be provided to all the Registrars across the country, to check for existing Registered Societies, while granting registrations to new ones,” the court said.
It said that a copy of the judgment be sent to the Principal Secretary
(Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs), Delhi Government and the
Secretary of Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India for
consideration of the above issues and for taking appropriate measures.
The court passed the judgement while dismissing two petitions challenging
the registration of identically named organisations under the Societies
Registration Act.
The court was dealing with the question whether the Registrar of
Societies has the power to cancel the registration of a society, under the Act.
Perusing the statutory scheme of the Act, the court was of the view
that in Delhi, no amendment permitting the registrar to cancel the
registration of a society has been enacted. PTI SKV
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