Section 163 - Place of keeping, and inspection of registers and returns. - Companies Act, 1956

General provisions regarding registers and returns Place of keeping, and inspection of registers and returns. 163. (1) The register of members commencing from the date of the registration of the company, the index of members, the register and index of debenture holders, and copies of all annual returns prepared under sections 159 and 160, together with the copies of certificates and documents required to be annexed thereto under sections 160 and 161, shall be kept at the registered office of the company: [1] [Provided that such registers, indexes, returns and copies of certificates and documents or any or more of them may, instead of being kept at the registered office of the company, be kept at any other place within the city, town or village in which the registered office is situate, if (i) such other place has been approved for this purpose by a special resolution passed by the company in general meeting, [2] [and] [3] [(ii) Omitted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1965, w.e.f. 15-10-1965.] (iii) the Registrar has been given in advance a copy of the proposed special resolution.] [4] [(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) the Central Government may make rules [5] for the preservation and for the disposal whether by destruction or otherwise, of the registers, indexes, returns and copies of certificates and other documents referred to in sub-section (1).] (2) The registers, indexes, returns, and copies of certificates and other documents referred to in sub-section (1) shall, except when the register of members or debenture holders is closed under the provisions of this Act, be open during business hours (subject to such reasonable restrictions, as the company may impose, so that not less than two hours in each day are allowed for inspection) to the inspection (a) of any member or debenture holder, without fee; and (b) of any other person, on payment of [6] [such sum as may be prescribed] for each inspection. (3) Any such member, debenture holder or other person may (a) make extracts from any register, index, or copy referred to in sub-section (1) without fee or additional fee, as the case may be, or (b) require a copy of any such register, index, or copy or of any part thereof, on payment of [7] [such sum as may be prescribed] for every one hundred words or fractional part thereof required to be copied. (4) The company shall cause any copy required by any person under clause (b) of sub-section (3) to be sent to that person within a period of ten days, exclusive of non-working days, commencing on the day next after the day on which the requirement is received by the company. (5) If any inspection, or the making of any extract required under this section, is refused, or if any copy required under this section is not sent within the period specified in sub-section (4), the company, and every officer of the company who is in default, shall be punishable, in respect of each offence, with fine which may extend to [8] [five hundred rupees] for every day during which the refusal or default continues. (6) The [9] [Tribunal] may also, by order, compel an immediate inspection of the document, or direct that the extract required shall forthwith be allowed to be taken by the person requiring it, or that the copy required shall forthwith be sent to the person requiring it, as the case may be. [10] -------------------------------------- Notes:- [1] Inserted by Companies (Amendment) Act, 1960, Act 65 of 1960, section 41. [2] Inserted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1960, Act 31 of 1965, section 17, w.e.f. 15-10-1965. [3] Clause (ii) omitted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, w.e.f. 15-10-1965.1965, section 17. [4] Inserted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1960, Act 65 of 1960, section 41. [5] See Companies (Preservation and disposal of records) Rules, 1966. [6] Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1988, section 66, w.e.f. 15-7-1988 for the words "a fee of one rupee". Fee of Rs. 10 has been prescribed vide rule 21A of General Rules Forms. [7] Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1988, section 66, w.e.f. 15-7-1988 for the words "six annas". [8] Substituted for "fifty rupees" by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2000, w.e.f. 13-12-2000. [9] Substituted for "Company Law Board" by the Companies (Second Amendment) Act, 2002, w.e.f. a date yet to be notified. Earlier the quoted words were substituted for Court by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1988, w.e.f. 31-5-1991. [10] Fees prescribed is Rs. 100, w.e.f. 1-4-2000. On notification of the commencement of the amendment, power will be transferred to the National Company Law Tribunal.