CHEN KHOI KUI versus LIANG MIAO SHENG & ORS.

Citation: [2023] 12 S.C.R. 307 · Decided: 13-09-2023 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ANIRUDDHA BOSE · Disposal: Disposed off
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2023] 12 S.C.R. 307 : 2023 INSC 827
307
CASE DETAILS
CHEN KHOI KUI
v.
LIANG MIAO SHENG & ORS.
(Civil Appeal No.5849-50 of 2023)
SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
[ANIRUDDHA BOSE AND SUDHANSHU DHULIA, JJ.]
HEADNOTES
Issue for consideration: Whether the Registrar of Society, empowered 
to grant registration under West Bengal Societies Registration Act 1961, 
also has the power to cancel such registration.
West Bengal Societies Registration Act 1961 – Power to review or 
cancel registration of the society by the registrar who earlier granted 
the registration:
Held: Registrar of the Society can cancel registration granted to the 
Society by exercising power of procedural review which is inherent within 
the authority who passed the order – There is no substantive power of 
review provided in the Act – On facts, in pursuance of an earlier Division 
Bench judgment of the High Court which held that even though there is no 
substantive power of review provided in the Act, the power of procedural 
review is inherent within the authority who passes the order, the Registrar 
allowed the application seeking cancellation of the registration granted 
earlier of a High School as a society, alleging forgery and fabrication of 
signatures – In appeal, the Referee Judge rightly held that the vital diﬀ erence 
between a power of substantive review and a power of procedural review, 
was not present in the mind of the Registrar; and that the Registrar proceeded 
to exercise a power of substantive review, which was not available to him 
in terms of such order and that too without reference to the application for 
registration that succeeded – Said  order does not calls for interference. 
[Paras 6, 7, 9, 12 and 15]
308
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2023] 12 S.C.R.
LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES
Grindlays Bank Ltd. v. Central Government Industrial Tribunal and 
Others (1980) (Supp) SCC 420:[1981] SCR 341; Kapra Mazdoor Ekta 
Union v. Birla Cotton Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. and Another (2005) 
13 SCC 777:[2005] 2 SCR 888; Rina Mukherjee and Another v. New India 
Assurance Co. Ltd. and Another (2008) ACJ 1248 – referred to.
OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED 
ORDER AND APPEARANCES
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos.5849-5850 
of 2023
From the Judgment and Order dated 19.09.2018 and 12.06.2019 of 
the High Court at Calcutta in APO No.542 of 2017.
Appearances:
Siddhartha Mitra, Sr. Adv., Kunal Chatterji, Sumitava Chakraborty, 
Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Rohit Bansal, Advs. for the Appellant.
Rana Mukherjee, Sr. Adv., Prosit Sen, Sourav Sen, Ms. Daisy 
Hannah, Soumitra G. Chaudhary, Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, Advs. for the 
Respondents.
JUDGMENT / ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT
JUDGMENT
ANIRUDDHA BOSE, J.
Delay condoned.
2. Leave granted.
3. The main question which arises for adjudication in this appeal is as 
to whether the Registrar of Society, empowered to grant registration under 
West Bengal Societies Registration Act 1961, also has the power to cancel 
such registration. There is no speciﬁ c provision in the statute granting 
such authority the power to review or cancel his own decision.  The root 
of the dispute lies in what appears to be a conﬂ ict between two groups of 
309
the chinese tannery owners in Kolkata over the control of a school. The 
school in question, as per pleadings, came into existence in the year 1929 
as ‘Pei May Chinese School’, and operated out of a small hut in an area 
commonly referred to as China Town.  Subsequently, the Chinese Tannery 
Owners’ Association in Kolkata set up the school on a large tract of land 
in a locality known as Tangra. As per the appellant, the school was moved 
to this location, now carrying the street address P-1 and 2, Iswar Mondal 
Lane, Kolkata-700046. The tanners of Chinese origin at one point of time 
constituted an aﬄ  uent and vibrant trade group in Kolkata in the ﬁ eld of 
processing and production of leather goods and they still have a presence 
in that sector.  The Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association was registered 
as a society in the year 1967 under the West Bengal Societies Registration 
Act, 1961. The Regulation of the Association, a copy of which has been 
annexed at page 72 of the paperbook records that the said association had 
been functioning since 1944 and has a school of its own known as Pei May 
School. The address of the school is also speciﬁ ed therein. The appellant 
claims to be the secretary of the school, which according to him was operated 
by the Chinese Tan
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