Section 4 Societies Registration Act: Annual List of the Governing Body

Section 4 is the Act's one continuing obligation: once a year, the society tells the Registrar who its governing body is. The provision looks humble beside property and suits, but it does constant work. The list is what banks, grantors, courts and rival factions reach for first in any question about who controls a society, and in the States that have built on it, the annual filing has grown into a compliance packet of rules, accounts and declarations.

1. The obligation

• The clock. The list is due within 14 days of the annual general meeting the rules provide; a society whose rules provide no annual general meeting files in January.
• The content. Names, addresses and occupations of the persons then entrusted with management, the same particulars section 2 required at birth, refreshed annually.
• The State additions. Uttar Pradesh requires the list to be accompanied by a copy of the memorandum with any changes, the rules corrected to date and certified by three governing body members, and the balance sheet for the preceding year; other States have comparable packets.
• Default. The bare Act prescribes no penalty, which was one of its famous gaps; State amendments supply fines, the Registrar's power to call for the list and documents, and, on persistent default, inquiry and cancellation powers.

Figure 1: The section 4 year

2. What the list is worth

• The list is evidence, not adjudication: it shows who was returned to the Registrar as the governing body, and courts treat it as a starting point, not as deciding a contested election.
• In an election dispute, the forum is the civil court or, in States like Uttar Pradesh, the prescribed authority, which can examine the election and order a fresh one; the Registrar does not adjudicate rival claims and usually records both lists pending the decision.
• For third parties, the list on the record protects those who deal in good faith with the officers it names, which is why banks insist on the latest filed list with the managing committee resolution.
• For the society itself, the discipline of the annual filing fixes the membership register, the accounts and the election cycle in time, and the absence of filings is the first thing an inquiry under State powers will note.

Figure 2: The list's evidentiary weight

3. The filing in practice

Figure 3: Who uses the annual list, and for what

• Keep the chain unbroken. A society that has skipped years should file the missing lists with its explanation; registrars generally accept late filings with fees under State rules, and an unbroken chain is the cheapest insurance in litigation.
• Match the documents. The list, the meeting minutes, the membership register and the bank mandate should name the same persons; mismatches fuel faction litigation.
• Mind the State packet. Where the balance sheet and certified rules must accompany the list, an incomplete filing counts as default.
• Changes between filings. Casual vacancies and co-options during the year are shown in the next list; States on the UP model also require changes of rules or address to be intimated within 30 days as they occur.

4. Quick Revision

1. Section 4 is the Act's only annual compliance.
2. The list updates the section 2 particulars.
3. Election disputes go to the court or prescribed authority.
4. Banks and grantors act on the latest filed list.
5. File late rather than never; the chain matters.

5. Frequently Asked Questions

Who can inspect the annual list, and how is it proved in court?

Anyone. Section 19 opens all documents filed with the Registrar to inspection on payment of the prescribed fee, and entitles any person to certified copies, which the section makes prima facie evidence of the matters they contain. In litigation the certified copy of the latest list, with copies of earlier lists where the dispute concerns a succession of committees, is the standard exhibit. The opposite party remains free to prove that the list was filed by a usurping faction or after an invalid meeting; the copy proves the filing and its contents, not the validity of what preceded it.

Two factions have each filed a list. Whose society is it?

Neither's, so far as the filings go. Rival lists prove only that the society is in dispute. The question of who was validly elected belongs to the civil court, or to the prescribed authority in States that have one, and interim control is arranged by that forum, sometimes through a receiver or an order freezing major transactions. The Registrar's office is not the battlefield: it records the rival filings, may call for documents under State powers, and awaits the adjudication. Banks typically freeze the account on notice of rival claims until a court order or a joint mandate resolves the operation, which is usually what forces the factions to the forum.

Does a wrong or dishonest list attract any liability?

Yes, on several fronts. Under State amendments, failure to file or filing a false list is an offence punishable with fine, prosecuted on the Registrar's complaint, and persistent or dishonest non-compliance is a standard ground for an inquiry into the society's affairs. A list known to be false when filed can also found prosecution under the general penal law for false statements and forgery where its ingredients are met, and the persons who filed it expose themselves personally, since members and office bearers are liable as strangers for their own wrongs. Civilly, a false list is set at naught in the election dispute itself, and costs tend to follow the faction that manufactured the record.

6. Related Topics and Provisions

• Registration under section 3
• Memorandum of association under section 2
• Inspection of documents under section 19
• Meetings and elections in societies
• Internal disputes and the civil court
• Registrar's powers under State laws