(1)Subject to subsection (5), a resolution at a general meeting of a registered society—
(a)appointing another person as auditor in place of a retiring qualified auditor, or
(b)providing expressly that a retiring qualified auditor shall not be re-appointed,
shall not be effective unless notice of the intention to move it has been given to the society not less than twenty-eight days before the meeting at which it is moved.
(2)Where notice of the intention to move any such resolution has been given under subsection (1) to a society which is required by its rules to give notice to its members of the meeting at which the resolution is to be moved, the society shall if it is practicable to do so give them notice of the resolution at the same time and in the same manner as it gives notice of the meeting.
(3)Where notice of the intention to move any such resolution has been given to any society under subsection (1), and that society does not give notice of the resolution under subsection (2), it shall give notice of the resolution to its members not less than fourteen days before the meeting at which the resolution is to be moved, either by advertisement in a newspaper having an appropriate circulation or in any other way allowed by the rules of the society.
(4)Where—
(a)for any of the reasons mentioned in section 39(1) an intended resolution to appoint some person or persons in place of a retiring qualified auditor cannot be proceeded with at the meeting, and
(b)by the rules of the society an auditor can only be appointed by a resolution passed at a general meeting after notice of the intended resolution has been given to the society before the meeting,
a resolution passed at that meeting re-appointing the retiring auditor or appointing an auditor in place of the retiring auditor shall be effective notwithstanding that no notice of that resolution has been given to the society under its rules.
(5)On receipt by a society of notice given under subsection (1) of an intended resolution, it shall forthwith send a copy of the notice to the retiring auditor.
(6)On receipt of a copy of such a notice, the retiring auditor may at any time before the date of the general meeting make representation in writing to the society (not exceeding a reasonable length) with respect to the intended resolution, and, without prejudice to the preceding provision, the retiring auditor may—
(a)notify the society that he intends to make such representations, and
(b)request that notice of his intention, or of any such representations made by him and received by the society before notice of the intended resolution is given to its members, shall be given to members of the society.
(7)Subject to subsection (8), a society which receives representations or a notification of intended representations under subsection (6) before the date when notice of the intended resolution is required by subsection (2) or subsection (3) (as the case may be) to be given to its members shall—
(a)in any notice of the resolution given to its members, state that it has received those representations or that notification (as the case may be),
(b)in any such notice, state that any member may receive on demand made before the date of the general meeting a copy of any representations which have been or may be received by the society before that date, and
(c)send a copy of any representations received by the society before the date of the meeting to any member on demand made before that date;
but without prejudice either to the preceding provisions of this subsection or to his right to be heard orally, the retiring auditor may also require that any representations made by him before the date of the general meeting shall be read out at the meeting.
(8)Copies of any such representations need not be sent out, and the representations need not be read out at the meeting if, on the application either of the society or of any other person, the High Court is satisfied that the rights conferred by this section are being abused to secure needless publicity for defamatory matter; and the Court may order the costs of the society on an application under this section to be paid, in whole or in part, by the auditor, notwithstanding that he is not a party to the application.
(9)Any provision in this section which requires notice to be given to the members of a society or confers any right upon a member (as the case may be) shall be construed in the case of a meeting of delegates appointed by members as requiring the notice to be given to the delegates so appointed or conferring the right upon a delegate (as the case may be).