12.8.5 (Joint Membership)

It is possible for two or more than two persons to hold shares jointly in a company. In that case all of them are not the individual members of the company. Instead, they are said to hold the shares jointly. There is no direct provision for joint membership, but there are a few indirect references. Therefore, Articles of a company provide for joint membership and sometimes the maximum number of persons who can be joint-holders of shares is given in the Articles (generally not more than four). Some provisions relating to joint-membership, are: (i) Only one share certificate is issued to them. (ii) All the members are jointly and severally liable to make payment of calls (Clause 15, Table A). (iii) A person whose name appears first in the order in which the names stands in the register of members, shall be entitled to vote (Clause 57, Table A). (iv)  A document may be served by the company on the joint-holders of a share by serving it on the joint-holder named first in the register of members in respect of the share [s.53(4 )]. (v) The names of the joint-holders may be entered in the register of members in the order in which they appear in the Application form or in the Share Transfer Form.