TN Societies Registration Act | Prior District Registrar's Approval & Identical Objectives Of Societies Not Mandatory For Amalgamation : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court observed that under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 ("Act"), it is not required for the amalgamating societies to obtain prior approval from the District Registrar before passing a special resolution, nor is it necessary for the societies to have identical objectives for the amalgamation. The bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the SLP challenging the Madras High Court's decision, which upheld the Inspector General of Registration's order rejecting the amalgamation of societies on the grounds of lacking prior District Registrar approval and having divergent objectives.The Appellant submitted that the two reasons given by the authorities and confirmed by the High Court were not borne out of the statutory provisions. Setting aside the High Court's decision, the Court interpreted Section 30 of the Act and observed as follows:“The interpretation that prior approval of the District Registrar is required before passing the Special Resolution would be an incorrect interpretation of the said provision. Further, there is no statutory bar or prohibition or pre-condition for amalgamation that the two societies amalgamating must have the same objectives.” “For the reasons recorded above, the impugned orders passed by the Single Judge, Division Bench and the Inspector General of Registration are set aside and that of the District Registrar approving the amalgamation is restored.”, the Court added. Accordingly, the appeal was allowed. Appearance: For Petitioner(s) Mr. Raghenth Basant, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ravi Raghunath, AOR Ms. Kaushitaki Sharma, Adv. For Respondent(s) Mr. P.Wilson, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Apoorv Malhotra, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Adv. Mr. Lokesh Krishna, Adv. Mr. B. Abishek, Adv. Mr. Danish Saifi, Adv. Mr. Senthil Jagadeesan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Punit Manoj Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Kirti Leela Ratnam, Adv. Mr. A. Renganath, Adv. Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, AOR Case Title: MANURKULA DEVANGA VASAGA SALAI Versus THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF REGISTRATION & ORS.Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 70Click here to read/download the order

TN Societies Registration Act | Prior District Registrar's Approval & Identical Objectives Of Societies Not Mandatory For Amalgamation : Supreme Court

Yash Mittal

Tags