(Act XXXI of 1953)
[3 November 1953]
An
Act to provide for the regulation, administration and accounting of collections
of charitable donations and for the prevention of frauds
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the
regulation, administration and accounting of collections of charitable
donations and for the prevention of frauds;
It
is hereby enacted as follows:-
1. Short title, extent and commencement.— (1) This Act may be called the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) Act, 1953.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.— In this Act, unless therein anything
repugnant in the subject or the context,—
(a) “collect”
and “collection” with their grammatical variations and cognate expressions mean
and include appealing for, receiving, collecting and attempting to collect,
whether directly or indirectly, any donations whether in money or in kind and
whether from the public in a public manner or from particular individuals or
otherwise for any fund to which this Act applies; but do not include mere
advice by any person not himself engaged in making the collection;
(b) “private
fund” means a fund consisting of donations whether in money or kind given by
way of charity for the benefit of an individual or a family or a group of
persons related to each other or connected with each other for some purpose,
when the aggregate of the donations collected or to be collected in any year
exceeds or is likely to exceed in value two hundred and fifty rupees but
neither exceeds nor is likely to exceed five thousand rupees.
(c) “charitable
fund” means any fund consisting of donations whether in money or kind given by
way of charity—
(i) for the benefit of an individual or a family
or a group of persons related to each other or connected with each other for
some purpose, when the aggregate of the donations collected or to be collected
in any year exceeds or is likely to exceed in value five thousand rupees; or
(ii) for the benefit of any institution,
association, society or undertaking of which the sole or a principal object is
the establishment or maintenance or benefit of a mosque, dargah, orphanage, widows’
home, educational institution or other similar establishment, or the relief of
poverty, sickness or distress or any other educational, religious, benevolent
or philanthropic purpose;
(d) “promoter”
of a fund means a person holding himself responsible for the due collection,
custody, administration and accounting of the donations which it is intended or
proposed to make for a private or a charitable fund;
(e) “collector”
of a fund means a person actually engaged in collecting donations for a private
or a charitable fund;
(f) “recipient”
of a fund means an individual, institution, association, society or undertaking
for whose benefit a private or a charitable fund is or is to be collected;
(g) “declaration” means a declaration duly made as
prescribed by the promoter or promoters of a private or a charitable fund and
in force under the rules made under this Act, and stating—
(i) the names and addresses of the promoters of the fund;
(ii) the value of the donations which it is
intended to collect;
(iii) the names and addresses of the collectors of the fund;
(iv) the names and addresses of the recipients of the fund;
(v) the objects and purposes for which the donations are to be
utilised;
(vi) the names of the banks or the persons in whose custody the
collections are to be kept;
(h) “sanctioning
authority” means a person appointed by the [5][5][Government] to be a sanctioning authority
for the purposes of this Act;
(i) “prescribed”
means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
3. Regulation of private and charitable
funds.— (1) No person shall
make any collection for any private fund or any charitable fund except in
accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(a) any donation made directly to any individual
or individuals for the personal benefit of such individual or individuals;
(b) the income from boxes placed at, and offerings
or subscriptions made to or for the purposes of mosques, takias, khankahs, dargahs or other shrines, the administration
whereof has been taken over and assumed by the Chief Administrator of Auqaf, [7][7][Punjab] under provisions of the [8][8]West Pakistan Waqf Properties Ordinance, 1961[9][9].]
4. Declaration of collections of private
funds.— (1) No person shall
make any collection for any private fund unless—
(a) before the commencement of the collection a declaration in respect
of the private fund has been duly made in the prescribed form and been duly
delivered by hand or by registered post, acknowledgment due, to the sanctioning
authority, and
(b) his
name and address is duly shown as a promoter or collector of the fund in the
declaration.
5. Sanctioning
of collection of charitable funds.— (1) No person shall make any collection for any
charitable fund unless before the commencement of the collection a declaration
in respect of the intended collection has been duly made and delivered to the
sanctioning authority, and the sanctioning authority has sanctioned the collection
in writing.
(2) The
sanctioning authority may refuse to sanction the collection if the object of
the collection appears to it to be immoral or contrary to public policy, or if
the authority is not satisfied with regard to the bona fides of the persons proposing to make the collection, or if
the authority is not satisfied with regard to the proper custody of the fund or
the due administration of the fund for the purposes for which it is to be
collected.
(3) The sanctioning authority may sanction
the collection on such conditions as it may consider it necessary to impose for
ensuring the proper custody of the fund and its due administration and
utilisation for the objects and purposes of the fund.
(4) When the collection of any fund is
intended to be for the benefit of an institution, association, society or
undertaking, the sanctioning authority, if it considers it necessary, may
sanction the collection on the condition that the institution, association,
society or undertaking shall be registered under the Societies Registration
Act, 1860[10][10], either before the commencement of the
collection or within a specified period.
(5) If the sanctioning authority sanctions
the collection, it shall issue or cause to be issued certificates, in the form
and manner prescribed, to persons desirous of making the collection,
authorising them to make the collection; provided that the sanctioning
authority may refuse to issue or to cause to be issued any such certificate,
and may cancel any certificate which has been issued, to any person [11][11][after giving such person an opportunity of
being heard], if the sanctioning authority is not satisfied with regard to the bona fides of the person.
(6) No person shall collect any donation for
any charitable fund unless he is in possession of a certificate duly issued to
him and in force under sub-section (5) authorising him to make the collections.
6. Maintenance and audit of accounts.— (1) Every promoter, collector and recipient
of every fund or donation to which this Act applies shall maintain or cause to
be maintained a true and proper account in the prescribed manner of the fund or
donation collected.
(2) The accounts of all charitable funds
shall be audited and submitted to the sanctioning authority in the prescribed
manner and at prescribed times or intervals.
(3) The sanctioning authority may at any time
for reasons to be stated in writing require by order any accounts of any
charitable fund to be audited or re-audited by a specified auditor at the cost
of any particular individual or individuals.
(4) The sanctioning authority may at any time
inspect or cause to be inspected any accounts maintained under this section.
(5) Any person who dishonestly or
fraudulently tampers with, conceals or destroys any records pertaining to the
collection of any fund to which this Act applies shall be deemed to have
contravened this Act and be punishable accordingly.
7. Misapplication of funds.— (1) No part of any donations collected for
any private or charitable fund shall be used for any purpose or object other
than the purpose or object for which it was collected, except under the order
of a competent court, or in the case of a charitable fund, of the Treasurer of
Charitable Endowments.
(2) No
charitable fund in the custody of any persons authorised to hold it shall be
transferred to any other persons except with the permission in writing of the
sanctioning authority or under the order of a court.
(3) If any
part of any donations collected for any private or charitable fund is used for
any purpose or object other than that for which it was collected, or is
otherwise misapplied or misappropriated in any manner, every person concerned
with the collection or administration of the fund, whether as a promoter,
collector or a recipient, shall unless he proves that the misuse,
misapplication or misappropriation occurred without his knowledge and that he
had used all due diligence to prevent such misuse, misapplication or
misappropriation, shall be deemed to have acted in contravention of this section
and be punishable accordingly.
8. Application of Act VI of 1890.— Notwithstanding anything contained in the
Charitable Endowments Act, 1890, hereinafter referred to as “the said Act”
every fund which is a charitable fund for the purposes of this Act shall be
deemed to be a charitable endowment and the purpose of every such fund shall be
deemed to be a charitable purpose for the purposes of the said Act, and the
said Act shall apply accordingly.
9. Powers of sanctioning authority.— The sanctioning authority may at any time
for reasons appearing to it to be sufficient cancel or alter any order made or
direction given by it under this Act.
10. Appellate authority.— [12][12][(1) Government may appoint a person, by name
or in virtue of his office, to be the appellate authority for the purposes of
this Act.]
(2) Any person who is dissatisfied with any
order passed or direction given or refusal to make any order or give any
direction by the sanctioning authority, may within thirty days of the order,
direction or refusal, appeal against it to the appellate authority, and the
appellate authority may thereupon make such order as it thinks fit in
accordance with this Act.
[13][13][11. Revision.— Government may at any time revise any order
made by the appellate authority or otherwise under this Act and pass such order
in accordance with this Act, as it deems proper.]
12. Penalty
for contraventions.— Any person who acts in contravention of any of the
provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder or of any order made,
direction given or condition imposed under this Act shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months or
with fine or with both.
13. Offences cognizable, bailable, and
non-compoundable.— An
offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable, bailable and
non-compoundable.
14. Prosecution subject to sanction by
District Magistrate.— No
prosecution under this Act shall be commenced except with the previous sanction
of the District Magistrate.
15. Jurisdiction of Magistrates.— No court inferior to that of a magistrate of
the first class shall try an offence under this Act.
16. Application of other laws.— Save as provided, the provisions of this Act
shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time
being in force.
17. Exemptions.— The [14][14][Government] may by a general or a special
order exempt any fund or any person, institution, association, society or
undertaking from all or any of the provisions of this Act, and the exemption
may be made subject to such conditions as the [15][15][Government] may think proper.
18. Rules.— [16][16][(1) Government may, by notification in the
official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.]
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of
the foregoing power, the rules may provide for—
(a) the
form and contents of declarations and the verification of statements made
therein;
(b) the
periods for which declarations shall remain in force and the manner in which
the periods may be extended or terminated;
(c) the
form and manner in which receipts for donations may be given and the
maintenance of proper vouchers for the purposes of the accounts;
(d) the
maintenance of proper books of account and the auditing of the accounts;
(e) the
periodical submission of statements of accounts;
(f) the
supervision, inspection and examination of accounts;
(g) the
payment of charges for forms of declarations, certificates; etc.
19. Protection of persons acting under this
Act.— No prosecution, suit
or other legal proceeding shall be instituted against any person in respect of
anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of
this Act.
The Act has been applied to Baluchistan with effect on and from the
3rd day of November, 1953, see Gazette of Pakistan, 1955, Pt. I, p.28; and also
extended to the Leased Areas of Baluchistan, see the Leased Areas (Laws) Order,
1950 (G.G.O. 3 of 1950).
[2][2]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of
1967).
[3][3]Inserted by the Repealing and
Amending Ordinance, 1961 (I of 1961), and substituted first by the Central
Adaptation of Laws Order, 1964 (P.O. 1 of 1964) and, then, by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of
1967).
[4][4]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[5][5]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of
1967), for “the Commissioner”.
[7][7]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[12][12]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of
1967).
[13][13]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of
1967).
[16][16]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of
1967)
No comments:
Post a Comment