The Societies in the State of U.P. are registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Section 3 of Societies Registration Act, 1860 provides for registration and fees to be paid for the registration of the Society. The Registration Certificate of the society is normally issued for five years and after the expiry of said terms, the certificate of the society is renewed under section 3-A of the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
The Societies Registration Act, 1860, further provides that the annual list of Managing Body shall be filed with the registrar mentioning therein the names, addresses, and occupation of the Governors, Council, Directors, Committee or other governing body then entrusted with the Management of the affairs of the Society.
It is the responsibility of the Secretary of the Society, to get the account of the society audited every year and the Registrar may by written order require any society to furnish its accounts or a copy of the statement of receipt and expenditure for any particular year duly audited by a Chartered Accountant. If the society fails to furnish the documents desired by the Registrar within the period specified in the order or within such extended period as the Registrar may from time to time allow, the Registrar may cause the accounts of such society audited for the said year and may recover the cost of such audit from the society.
Thus, it is clear that the account of the society must be audited by the Chartered Accountant and in case, the society fails to get its account audited, the Registrar may in the exercise of the power conferred under section 23 of the Societies Registration Act, 1860 may direct for an audit of account of any society and further the Registrar may, at the request of the society permit it to have such accounts and statement audited by any other person approved by him. The registrar may not exercise this power without giving an opportunity of hearing to the society concerned. If the Registrar, arbitrarily passes any order for the audit of the account of any society without providing an adequate opportunity to the society to present its case and state the reasons why the account has not been audited, in that case, the Writ Petition can be filed by the society challenging the arbitrary action of the Assistant Registrar, Firms, Chits, and Societies.