Section 399: Inspection, production and evidence of documents kept by Registrar
This section is for governing the inspection, production, and use as evidence of documents kept by the Registrar of Companies.
The section, clause by clause
What the section says
In plain terms
(1)Save as otherwise provided elsewhere in this Act, any person may—
Any person can inspect documents kept by the Registrar electronically or obtain certified copies of documents on payment of prescribed fees, with certain restrictions applying to documents related to prospectuses.
(1)(a)inspect by electronic means any documents kept by the Registrar in accordance with the rules made, being documents filed or registered by him in pursuance of this Act, or making a record of any fact required or authorised to be recorded or registered in pursuance of this Act, on payment for each inspection of such fees as may be prescribed;
(1)(b)require a certificate of the incorporation of any company, or a copy or extract of any other document or any part of any other document to be certified by the Registrar, on payment in advance of such fees as may be prescribed:
provisoProvided that the rights conferred by this sub-section shall be exercisable—
(1)(b)(i)in relation to documents delivered to the Registrar with a prospectus in pursuance of section 26, only during the fourteen days beginning with the date of publication of the prospectus; and at other times, only with the permission of the Central Government; and
(1)(b)(ii)in relation to documents so delivered in pursuance of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 388, only during the fourteen days beginning with the date of the prospectus; and at other times, only with the permission of the Central Government.
(2)No process for compelling the production of any document kept by the Registrar shall issue from any court or the Tribunal except with the leave of that court or the Tribunal and any such process, if issued, shall bear thereon a statement that it is issued with the leave of the court or the Tribunal.
A court or Tribunal can only order the production of a document kept by the Registrar with its leave, and any such order must state that it has been issued with leave.
(3)A copy of, or extract from, any document kept and registered at any of the offices for the registration of companies under this Act, certified to be a true copy by the Registrar (whose official position it shall not be necessary to prove), shall, in all legal proceedings, be admissible in evidence as of equal validity with the original document.
A certified copy or extract of a document kept by the Registrar is admissible in evidence in legal proceedings and has the same validity as the original document.
The right-hand column is written from the section text, not quoted from it, and it has no legal force. Where the two differ, the left-hand column is the law.
This section refers to
Referred to by
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Reproduced from the official India Code print for reference. Check the current text on India Code before you rely on it, and read the section alongside its Rules. Nothing here is legal advice.