(1) Save as otherwise provided elsewhere in this Act, any
person may--
(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;
(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:
Provided that the rights conferred by this sub-section shall
be exercisable--
(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
(ii) in relation to documents so delivered in pursuance of clause (b) of subsection (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.
(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.
The Central Government may also provide in the rules made under section 398 and section 399 that the electronic form for the purposes specified in these sections shall be exclusive, or in the alternative or in addition to the physical form, therefor.