Power of Registrar General on application to appoint inspector or call special meeting

(1) The Registrar General may, on the application of one- tenth of the whole of the members of any society, or of one hundred members in the case of a society consisting of more than one thousand members, and with the consent of the Minister, either, (a) appoint an inspector to examine into and report on the affairs of the society; or (b) call a special meeting of the society. (2) The following provisions shall have effect where an application is made under subsection (1) of this section, (a) the application under this section shall be supported by such evidence as the Registrar General may direct for the purpose of showing that the applicants have good reason for requiring the meeting to be called, and that they are not actuated by malicious motives in their application; (b) such notice of the application shall be given to the society as the Registrar General may direct; (c) the Registrar General shall require the applicants to give security for the costs of the proposed inspection or meeting before the inspector is appointed or the meeting is called; and (d) all expenses of and incidental to the inspection or meeting shall be defrayed by the applicants, or out of the funds of the society, or by members or officers or former members or officers of the society, in such proportions as the Registrar General may direct. 29 (3) An inspector appointed under this section may require the production of all or any of the books, accounts, securities and documents of the society and may examine on oath its officers, members, agents, and servants in relation to its business, and may administer an oath accordingly. (4) The Registrar General may direct at what time and place a special meeting under this section is to be held, and what matters are to be discussed and determined at the meeting, and the meeting shall have all the powers of a meeting called according to the rules of the society, and shall in all cases have power to appoint its own chairperson, any rule of the society to the contrary notwithstanding. (5) The Registrar General may, without any application by members, but with the consent of the Minister given on each occasion, exercise the powers given by this section in the following cases, (a) where a society has for two months after notice failed to make any return required by this Act; (b) where a society has for two months after notice failed to correct or complete any such return; (c) where evidence is furnished by a statutory declaration of not less than three members of a society of facts which, in the opinion of the Registrar General, call for investigation or for recourse to the judgment of a meeting of the Provided that the Registrar General shall, within seven days of receipt of such declaration, send a copy thereof to the society, and the society shall, within fourteen days from the sending of such copy, be entitled to give the Registrar General an explanatory statement in writing by way of reply thereto. 30