TMI Blog2003 (9) TMI 776X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ies Registration Act, 1860. On 4th March, 1978, Ratan Lal, the testator died. On his demise, the Society submitted an application before the Court for grant of Letter of Administration in pursuance of Will executed by late Ratan Lal, under Section 276 of the Act. The said petition was contested by the appellant and on her death by her legal representatives, on the ground that the petition filed by the Respondent-Society is not maintainable in view of Section 236 of the Act. The High Court being of the view that it is permissbile under Section 236 of the Act to grant Letter of Administration in favour of the Society, rejected the objection of the appellant and, it is in this way, the appellants are before us by means of a special leave petition. Before we proceed on the merits and take up the question for answer it would be expedient to set out the relevant provisions of the Act. Section 218 of the Act provides that to whom letter of administration be granted where the deceased is a Hindu, Mohammadan, Sikh, Jaina or exempted persons. Section 218 of the Act runs as under : (1) If the deceased has died intestate and was a Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina or an exem ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bject being that the duties and functions of an executor in whose favour Letter of Administration is granted, is required to carry out the direction(s) contained in the Will faithfully, diligently and effectively. The executor can be discharged only as and when such directions given in the Will, are complied with or the desire of testator, as reflected in the Will, is fulfilled. The legislature, in its wisdom, has chosen to disqualify not only a minor or a person of unsound mind, but also an association of indiviudals, for carrying out the wishes and directions of the testator. The only exception which has been made in the matter of grant of probate or Letter of Administration is a company, which satisfies the conditions prescribed in the Rules and not otherwise. The Governor-General in Council made Rules which were published in the Gazette of India on 17th January, 1933, Part-I, Page 40, which run as follows : (1) In these rules - (a) 'Share capital' includes stock; and (b) 'Trust business' means the business of acting as trustee under wills and settlements and as executor and administrator. (2) The conditions to be satisfied by a company in ord ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an association of persons and it may be registered under the Societies Registration Act or unregistered. Such bodies (association of persons too) would suffer from certain disabilities as there would then possibly be competing and conflicting voices with no single line of command for carrying out the wishes of the testator. In Mohashaya Krishna v. Mt. Maya Devi and Others, AIR 35 (1948) Lahore 54 it has been categorically held that the Arya Pritinidhi Sabha, Punjab being not a company wihin the meaning of Sections 223 and 236 of the said Act was not entitled to grant of Administration, holding : A society registered under the provisions of Act 21 of 1860 does not cease to be an association of individuals by reason of such registration. Registration under the aforesaid Act only confers on it certain privileges which are not enjoyed by other associations of individuals. For example, such a society may sue or be sued in the name of the president, chairman or principal secretary or trustees as may be determined by the rules and regulations of the society. In Laxman Kumar v. Mohammed Moqbul AH, (1974) 2 CWR 1112 it has been held that a mosque committee, being an association o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Lah 54. As a last resort it will still be open to the contesting respondent to obtain letters of administration under Section 232 of the Act in the name of its President through whom the society is entitled to sue and this will meet the technical objection raised by the appellant. I, therefore, repeal the contention of the appellant. The High Court in its impugned judgment proceeded on the basis that although society is not a corporation but it is also not a mere association of individuals. The High Court has sustained its judgment on the ground that Sections 223 and 236 of the Act disqualify only those persons who suffer from legal incapacity of suing or being sued. According to the High Court, since the Society can sue as well as be sued in representative capacity, it can be entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out the wishes of the testator. The High Court was of the further view that the purpose of a Will in favour of a voluntary organization or association, may be frustrated unless it is held that grant of Letter of Administration to the Society through a person nominated by it would be valid. We find ourselves unable to countenance the aforesaid view of the Hi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s endowed with an existence separate from that of its members for certain purposes, that is not to say that it is a legal person for the purposes of Sections 223 and 236 of the Act. Whereas a company can be regarded as having a complete legal personality, the same is not possible for a society, whose existence is closely connected, and even contingent, upon the persons who originally formed it. Inasmuch as a company enjoys an identity distinct from its original shareholders, whereas the society is undistinguishable, in some aspects, from its own members, that would qualify as a material distinction, which prevents societies from obtaining letters of administration. The Patna High Court in K.C. Thomas v. R.L. Gadeock and Another, AIR (1970) Patna 163 held that a society registered under the Act enjoys the status of legal entity apart from the members constitution and is capable of suing of being sued. The said decision is not correct. Sections 5 6 of the said Act read thus : 5. Property of Society how vested - The property, moveable and immoveable, belonging to a Society registered under this Act, if not vested in trustees, shall be deemed to be vested for the time being ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... demand against the Society, to sue the president or chairman, or principal secretary or the trustees thereof, if on application to the governing body, some officer or person be bot nominated to be the defendant. Section 19 of the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 provides : Suits and proceedings by and against a Society. - (1) Every Society may sue or may be sued in the name of the President, the Secretary, or any office-bearer authorised by the governing body in this behalf. (2) No suit or proceeding shall abate by reason of any vacancy or charge in the holder of the office of the President, the Secretary or any office- bearer authorised under sub-section (1). (3) Every decree or order against a Society in any suit or proceeding shall be executable against the property of the Society and not against the person or the property of the President, the Secretary or any office bearer. (4) Nothing in sub-section (3) shall exempt the President the Secretary or office-bearer of a Society from any criminal liability under this Act or entitle him to claim any contribution from the property of the Society in respect of any fine paid by him on conviction by a Crimin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... societies. Registration does not result in incorporation, but merely entitles the society so registered to enjoy the privileges conferred by the Act. These privileges are of considerable importance and certain of them go a long way towards giving registered societies .... a status in many respects analogous to a corporation strictly so-called, but without being technically incorporated. Thus something in the nature of perpetual succession is conceded by the provision that the society's property is to vest in the trustees for the time being of the society for the use and benefit of the society and its members and of all persons claiming through the members according to the society's rules, and further (and this is the most noteworthy provision) that the property shall pass to succeeding trustees without assignment or transfer. In the same way, though the society, being unincorporated, is unable to sue and be sued in its own name, it is given the statutory privilege of suing and being sued in the name of its trustees. We think that these observations made with regard to similar provisions of the Friendly Societies Act, correctly and succinctly summarise the legal position ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... are further constrained to state that reliance upon the law of England is misplaced, since in that country, a probate may lawfully be granted to a company or to an association of persons, without the imposition of any condition. The application of British law, to Sections 223 and 236 of the Act, is therefore uncalled for. While it is true that a society registered under the Societies Registration Act does not suffer technically from all of the legal disabilities as the other prohibited classes of persons, as stipulated by Sections 223 and 226 of the Act, such as minors and persons of unsound mind but that by itself would not lead one to the conclusion that such a society would be a juristic person. Even assuming that registered societies could sue in their own name, that would not be enough to satisfy the requirement of having a complete and unassailable legal identity. By way of illustration, a Hindu Undivided Family, a partnership firm, or even a sole proprietary concern can sue or be sued in its own name, by virtue of the provisions contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Nonetheless, that of its own accord, would not sufficiently establish that such entities have cured ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at has been said. Statutes should be construed, not as theorems of Euclid , Judge Learned Hand side, but words must be construed with some imagination of the purposes which lie behind them . (Lenigh Valley Coal Co. v. Yensavage, (218 FR 547) The view was reiterated in Union of India v. filip Tiago De Gama of Vedem Vasco De Gama, AIR (1990) SC 981 : [1990] 1 SCC 277. This Court again in Harbhajan Singh v. Press Council of India and Others, [2002] 3 SCC 722 stated the law thus : Clearly, the language of sub-section (7) of Section 6 abovesaid, is plain and simple. There are two manners of reading the provision. Read positively, it confers a right on a retiring member to seek renomination. Read in a negative manner, the provision speaks of a retiring member not being eligible for renomination for more than one term. The spell of ineligibility is cast on renomination of a member who is retiring . The event determinative of eligibility or ineligibility is renomination , and the person, by reference to whom it is to be read, is a retiring member . Retiring member is to be read in contradistinction with a member/person retired sometime in the past, and so, would be called ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vision in the statute and no word in any section can be construed in isolation. Every provision and every word must be looked at generally and in the context in which it is used. It is said that every statute is an edict of the legislature. The elementary principle of interpreting any word while considering a statute is to gather the means or sententia legis of the legislature. Where the words are clear and there is no obscurity, and there is no ambiguity and the intention of the legislature is clearly conveyed, there is no scope for the court to take upon itself the task of amending or altering the statutory provisions. It is equally well settled that when the Legislature has employed a plain and unambiguous language, the Court is not concerned with the consequences arising therefrom. Recourse to interpretation of statutes may be resorted only when the meaning of the statute is obscure. The Court is not concerned with the reason as to why the Legislature thought it fit to lay emphasis on one category of suitors than the others. A statute must be read in its entirety for the purpose of finding out the purport and object thereof. The Court, in the event of its coming to the conc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s omissus, the defect can be remedied only by legislation and not by judicial interpretation. Keeping in view the legislative policy we are of the opinion that the High Court was not correct in its view that an Administration can be granted in favour of a society registered under Act 21 of 1860. The apprehension of the High Court that in a case of this nature, in the event, a Letter of Administration is not granted in favour of the beneficiary society, the purport of the 'Will' will be frustrated is not wholly correct and for grant of Letter of Administration what is necessary is that the person duly authorised by the Society in accordance with the law may file such an application. Furthermore, the validity of the Sections 223 an 236 of the Act is not in question. So long the said provisions are not declared unconstitutional, the same must be allowed to hold their feild. We may state that, as noticed hereinbefore, in terms of rules framed by States under the Societies Registration Act, a society may sue or may be sued through its President or Secretary or in absence of any specific provisions in that behalf, any person authorised by the Society. Grant of prob ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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