The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Cracking the whip on defunt societies

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 10, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Cracking the whip on defunt societies

V.S. Palaniappan

<36,3,,UTO1,,,,1>IT IS a common sight to see a registration number on the boards, letterheads and other official stationary of organisations according its special status. Most firms and societies fail to renew their membership. As a result several societies have become defunct.

As per the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, the societies should renew their membership every year. They should conduct elections, file returns and statement of accounts and minutes of annual general meetings regularly. In the absence of registration, bankers refuse to open accounts.

Official and legal transactions cannot be done if the organisation or the society remained an unregistered one.

Most societies or organisations that take up works from Government agencies get themselves registered for bagging contracts and to enjoy subsidy and grants-in-aid, but they seldom remain serious about the registration once the objective or ambition is accomplished. Most organisations and societies do not renew the registration in the subsequent years. "When you find a registration number of an organisation in its communication it doesn't mean that it is a registered one," say sources in the registration department.

At least, 50,000 societies have not renewed their membership across the State. In the event of a failure to renew their membership within the stipulated time, the societies could get the delay condoned.

But, the procedure is very cumbersome, as the application would have to be processed and sent to the Government, which in turn would have to pass a Government Order.

A copy of the delisting notification will have to be sent to societies that do not renew their membership. Though this is an expensive exercise, the Registration Department has started despatching notices to all defunct societies under provisions of Section 44 (iii) of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act of 1975asking the office-bearers to turn up for renewal and show cause as to why their registration should not be cancelled. Subsequent to this, the societies would be de-listed and the relevant gazette notification would be sent to them.

In Coimbatore and Tirupur Registration District nearly 4,500 such notices were being sent.

It is also unfortunate that the same societies who fail to renew their membership get themselves registered again under a new name adding up to the list of registered societies.

The Registration department has started sending notices to all these societies spending at least Rs. 25 per notice and once the delisting is done they would have to spend another Rs. 25 for sending a copy of the delisting notification. More than 50 per cent of the notices are getting returned with a note stating " addressee not found". Of the number of notices served, it is doubtful whether even five per cent would turn up for renewal, officials say.

The Secretary of the Coimbatore Consumer Cause, K. Kathirmathiyon, says that to avoid expenditure in sending notices, the Government should incorporate an automatic cancellation clause in the registration.

The powers for condoning delayed renewals could be decentralised to the respective registrars. This will help avoid the procedures of routing applications to the Registration Department and then to the Government for a G.O. Such a simplification of procedure would help in reducing the workload besides making the system more public friendly.

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Cracking the whip on defunt societies