SOCIETIES
REGISTRATION ACT, 1860
[Act No. 21 of Yr.
1860]
An Act for the registration of
literary, scientific and charitable societies
Whereas it is expedient
the provision should be made for improving the legal condition or
societies established for the promotion of literature, science, or
the fine arts, or for the diffusion of useful knowledge,
l[the diffusion of political education], or for
charitable purposes;
Comment: Charitable purposes which came
within the language and spirit of the statute of Elizabeth (43 Eliz
ch 4) could be grouped into four heads, (i) relief of poverty, (ii)
education, (iii) advancement of religion and (iv) other purposes
beneficial to the community not coming under any of the preceding
heads. The words in Act 21/1860 are, therefore, to be understood as
including religious purposes also. Hindu Public v. Rajdhani Puja
Samithee AIR 1999 SUPREME COURT 964
It is enacted as follows
:-
1. Societies formed by memorandum
of association and registration
Any seven or more persons
associated for any literary, scientific, or charitable purpose, or
for any such purpose as is described in section 20 of this Act, may,
by subscribing their names to a memorandum of association, and
filing the same with Registrar of Joint-stock Companies
2[***] form themselves into a society under this
Act.
2. Memorandum of
association
The memorandum of
association shall contain the following things, that is to say,-
the name of the
society;
the object of the
society;
the names, addresses, and
occupations of the governors, council, directors, committee, or
other governing body to whom, by the rules of the society, the
management of its affairs is entrusted.
A copy of the rules and
regulations of the society, certified to be a correct copy by not
less than three of the members of the governing body, shall be filed
with the memorandum of association.
3. Registration and
fees
Upon such memorandum and
certified copy being filed, the Registrar shall certify under his
hand that the society is registered under this Act. There shall be
paid to the Registrar for every such registration a fee of fifty
rupees, or such smaller fees as 3[the State Government]
may from time to time, direct; and all fees so paid shall be
accounted for to 3[the State Government].
4. Annual list of managing body
to be filed
Once in every year, on or
before the fourteenth day succeeding the day on which, according to
the rules of the society, the annual general meeting of the
societies is held, or, if it rules do not provide for an annual
general meeting, in the months of January, list shall be filed with
the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, of the names, addresses and
occupations of the governors, council, director, committee, or other
governing body then entrusted with the management of the affairs of
the society.
5. Property of society how
vested
The property, movable and
immovable belonging to a society registered under this Act, if not
vested in trustees, shall be deemed to be vested, for the time
being, in the governing body of such society, and in all proceedings
civil and criminal, may be described as the property of the
governing body of such society for their proper title.
6. Suits by and against
societies
Every society registered
under this Act may sue or be sued in the name of President,
Chairman, or Principal Secretary, or trustees, as shall be
determined by the rules and regulations of the society and, in
default of such determination, in the name of such person as shall
be appointed by the governing body for the occasion:
PROVIDED that it shall be
competent for any person having a claim, or demand against the
society, to sue the President or Chairman, or Principal Secretary or
the trustees thereof, if on application the governing body some
other officer or person be not nominated to be the defendant.
7. Suits not to abate
No suit or proceeding in
any Civil Court shall abate or discontinue by reason of the person,
by or against whom such suit or proceedings shall have been brought
or continued, dying or ceasing to fill the character in the name
whereof he shall have sued or been sued, but the same suit
proceedings shall be continued in the name of or against the
successor of such person.
8. Enforcement of judgment
against society
If a judgment shall be
recovered against the person or officer named on behalf of the
society, such judgment shall not be put in force against the
property, movable or immovable, or against the body of such person
or officer, but against the property of the society.
The application for
execution shall set forth the judgement, the fact of the party
against whom it shall have been recovered having sued or having been
sued, as the case may be, on behalf of the society only, and shall
require to have the judgement enforced against the property of the
society.
9. Recovery of penalty accruing
under bye-law
Whenever by any bye-law
duly made in accordance with the rules and regulations of the
society, or, if the rules do not provide for the making of bye-laws,
by any bye-laws made at a general meeting of the members of the
society convened for the purpose (for the making of which the
concurrent votes of three-fifths of the members present at such
meeting shall be necessary), any pecuniary penalty is imposed for
the breach of any rule or bye-law of the society, such penalty, when
accrued, may be recovered in any court having jurisdiction where the
defendant shall reside, or the society shall be situate, as the
governing body thereof shall deem expedient.
10. Members liable to be sued as
strangers
Any member who may be in
arrear of a subscription which according to the rules of the society
he is bound to pay, or who shall possess himself of or detain any
property of the society in a manner or for a time contrary to such
rules, or shall injure or destroy any property of the society, may
be sued for such arrear or for the damage accruing from such
detention, injury, or destruction of the property in the manner
hereinbefore provided.
Recovery by successful defendant
of costs adjudged : But if the defendant shall be successful in
any suit or other proceedings brought against him at the instance of
the society, and shall be adjudged to recover his costs, he may
elect to proceed to recover the same from the officer in whose name
the suit shall be brought, or from the society, and in the latter
case shall have process against the property of the said society in
the manner above described.
11. Members guilty of offences
punishable as strangers
Any member of the society
who shall steal, purloin, or embezzle any money or other property,
or wilfully, and maliciously destroy or injure any property of such
society, or shall forge and deed, bond, security for money, receipt,
or other instrument, whereby the funds of the society may be exposed
to loss, shall be subject to the same prosecution, and, if
convicted, shall be liable to be punished in like manner, as any
person not a member would be subject and liable to in respect of the
like offence.
12. Societies enabled to alter,
extend or abridge their purposes
Whenever it shall appear
to the governing body of any society registered under this Act,
which has been established for any particular purpose or purposes,
that it is advisable to alter, extend, or abridge such purpose to or
for other purposes within the meaning of this Act, or to amalgamate
such society either wholly or partially with any other society, such
governing body may submit the proposition to the members of the
society in a written or printed report, and may convene a special
meeting for the consideration thereof according to the regulations
of the society;
but no such proposition
shall be carried into effect unless such report shall have been
delivered or sent by post to every member of the society ten days
previous to the special meeting convened by the governing body for
the consideration thereof, nor unless such proposition shall have
been agreed to by the votes of three-fifths of the members delivered
in person or by proxy, and confirmed by the votes of three-fifths of
the members present at a second special meeting convened by the
governing body at an interval of one months after the former
meeting.
13. Provision for dissolution of
societies and adjustment of their affairs
Any number not less than
three-fifths of the members of any society may determine that it
shall be dissolved, and thereupon it shall be dissolved forthwith,
or at the time then agreed upon, and all necessary steps shall be
taken for the disposal and settlement of the property of the
society, its claims and liabilities according to the rules of the
said society applicable thereto, if any, and if not, then as the
governing body shall find expedient, provided that, in the event of
any dispute arising among the said governing body or the members of
the society, the adjustment of its affairs shall be referred to the
principal court of original civil jurisdiction of the district in
which the chief building of the society is situate; and the court
shall make such order in the matter as it shall deem requisite.
Assent required: Provided
that no societies shall be dissolved unless three-fifths of the
members shall have expressed a wish for dissolution by their votes
delivered in person, or by proxy, at a general meeting convened for
the purpose:
Government consent: Provided
that 4[whenever any Government] is a member of, or a
contributor to, or otherwise interested in any society registered
under this Act, such society shall not be dissolved
5[without the consent of the Government of the
6[State] or registration].
14. Upon a dissolution no member
to receive profit
If upon the dissolution
of any society registered under this Act there shall remain, after
the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any property
whatsoever, the same shall not be paid to or distributed among the
members of the said society or any of them, but shall be given to
some other society, to be determined by the votes of not less than
three-fifths of the members present personally or by proxy at the
time of the dissolution, or in default thereof, by such court as
aforesaid:
Clause not to apply to
Joint-stock Companies : Provided, however, that this clause
shall not apply to any society which has been founded or established
by the contributions of share-holders in the nature of a Joint-stock
Company.
15. Member defined
For the purposes of this
Act a member of a society shall be a person who, having been
admitted therein according to the rules and regulations thereof,
shall have paid a subscription, or shall have signed the roll or
list of members thereof, and shall not have resigned in accordance
with such rules and regulations;
Disqualified members : But
in all proceedings under this Act no person shall be entitled to
vote or be counted as a member whose subscription at the time shall
have been in arrears for a period exceeding three months.
16. Governing body defined
The governing body of the
society shall be the governors, council, directors, committee,
trustees, or other body to whom by the rules and regulations of the
society the management of its affairs is entrusted.
17. Registration of societies
formed before Act
Any company or society
established for a literary, scientific or charitable purpose, and
registered under Act 43 of 1850 7, or any such society
established and constituted previously to the passing of this Act
but not registered under the said Act 43 of 1850 may at any time
hereafter be registered as a society under this Act.
Assent required : Subject to
the proviso that no such company or society shall be registered
under this Act unless an assent to its being so registered has been
given by three-fifths of the members present personally, or by
proxy, at some general meeting convened for that purpose by the
governing body.
In the case of a company
or society registered under this Act 43 of 18507, the
directors shall be deemed to be such governing body.
In the case of a society
not so registered, if no such body shall have been constituted on
the establishment of the society, it shall be competent for the
members thereof, upon due notice, to create for itself a governing
body to act for the society thenceforth.
18. Such societies to file
memorandum, etc. with Registrar of Joint-stock Companies
In order to any such
society as is mentioned in the last proceeding section obtaining
registry under this Act, it shall be sufficient that the governing
body file with the Registrar of Joint-stock Companies 2[*
* *] a memorandum showing the name of the society, the objects of
the society, and the names, addresses and occupations of the
governing body, together with a copy of the rules and regulations of
the society certified as provided in section 2, and a copy of the
report of the proceedings of the general meeting at which the
registration was resolved on.
19. Inspection of
documents
Any person may inspect
all documents filed with the Registrar under this Act on payment of
a fee of one rupee for each inspection; and any person may require a
copy or extract of any document or any part of any document, to be
certified by the registrar, on payment of two annas for every
hundred words of such copy or extract; and such certified copy shall
be prima facie evidence of the matters therein contained in all
legal proceedings whatever.
20. To what societies Act
applies
The following societies
may be registered under this Act:-
Charitable societies, the
military orphan funds or societies established at the several
presidencies of India, societies established for the promotion of
science, literature, or the fine arts for instruction, the diffusion
of useful knowledge, 1[the diffusion of political
education], the foundation or maintenance of libraries or
reading-rooms for general use among the members or open to the
public or public museums and galleries of paintings and other works
of art, collections of natural history, mechanical and philosophical
inventions, instruments, or designs.