[1]THE CHARITABLE FUNDS (REGULATION OF
COLLECTIONS) ACT, 1953
( XXXI of 1953)
[3rd 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.
[2][(2) It extends to the whole of the Province of
West Pakistan except the Tribal Areas.]
(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][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.
[6][(2) Nothing in this Act shall apply to—
(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]
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[9],
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 [10][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.— [11][(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.
[12][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 [13][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[Government] may think proper.
18.
Rules.— [14][(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.
[1] For the statement of
objects and reasons, see, Gazette of
Pakistan, 1953, Pt. IX, p. 136.
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] Substituted by the
Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act,
1967 (II of 1967).
[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] Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[5] Substituted by the
Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act,
1967 (II of 1967), for “the Commissioner”.
[6] Substituted ibid.
[7] Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[8] Now “the Punjab”, see by the Punjab Laws (Adaptation)
Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974). 9XXVIII of 1961.
[9]
XXI of 1860.
[10] Inserted by the West
Pakistan Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 1965 (XXXIV of 1965).
[11] Substituted by the
Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act,
1967 (II of 1967).
[12] Substituted by the
Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act,
1967 (II of 1967).
[14] Substituted by the
Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act,
1967 (II of 1967)
No comments:
Post a Comment