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Judgment
S. Samvatsar, J.
This petition is filed by the Petitioner challenging order Annexure P/6 dated 23.10.2003 passed by Registrar of Societies, Madhya Pradesh whereby the registration of the Petitioner-society u/s 34(3) of Madhya Pradesh Registrikaran Rules 1973 is cancelled for violation of the provisions of Sections 27 and 28 of the Act.
The brief facts of the case are that the Petitioner-society is registered under the provisions of Section 34 of the Act of 1973 and is running an educational institution. It is alleged that the Petitioner-society have not conducted any meeting from 1991 to 2002 and thus violated the provisions of Section 27 of the Act which provides that annual meeting of the society is to be held once in an year. Similarly, the society has committed default in aduit and inspection for the said period and, therefore, notice Annexure R/1 and R/2 were issued to the Petitioner-society calling them to show cause why action should not be taken against them for violation of the provisions of Section 27 and 28 of the Act.
According to the Petitioner, notices were not served on the Petitioner and the order Annexure P/6 was passed which is contrary to law. The counsel for the Petitioner submits that as per the rules framed under the said Act, the notice is to be served only by postal service. Rule 8 provides the manual of service and as per Rule 8, the order under Sub-clause 1 of Section 11 shall be served on the society by postal service at the address of the society mentioned in the memorandum of the society or such address given by the society. After perusal of the said rule, I find that in the present case, said rule is not applicable because in the present case, order is not passed u/s 11(1) but is passed u/s 38 and 39 of the Act. Counsel for the Petitioner invited attention of this Court to Section 28 of the M.P. General Clauses Act, 1957 which lays down that where any Madhya Pradesh Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post, whether the expression "serve" or either of the expressions "give" or "send" or any other expression is used, then unless a different intention appears, the service shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing, preparing and posting by registered post, a letter containing the document, and unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. Thus, as per this section, every notice under M.P. Act is to be served registered post unless contrary is provided.
In the present case, the registration of the society is cancelled and powers for cancellation of the registration is provided u/s 34 of the Act. Sub-Section 2 of Section 34 provided that the Registrar may, if no information received by him or otherwise is of the opinion that a society has become defunct or has been persistently making default in the observance of the provisions of this Act, or the regulations or bylaws made thereunder, by a notice served on the society, call upon the governing body within the period specified in the notice which shall not be less than thirty days, to show cause as to why registration of the society should not be cancelled. Thus, Section 34 (2) provides service of notice and this expression is covered by Section 38 of M.P. General Clauses Act and, therefore, for cancellation of registration, a notice by Registered A.D. will have to be issued to the Petitioner-society. In absence of such notice, it cannot be said in the present case that notice is served on the Respondents, particularly, when they have denied the allegation of receiving the notice.
In such circumstances, this petition is allowed with the liberty to the State Government to take appropriate action afresh after serving the notice and after affording an opportunity of being heard. The order Annexure P/6 is set aside as the same is passed without serving the notice as required by Section 34 (2) and is thus, violates the statutory provisions as well as the principle of natural justice.
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