(Act XXI of 1860)
[21
May 1860]
An Act for the Registration of Literary,
Scientific and Charitable Societies
Preamble.− WHEREAS it is expedient that provision
should be made for improving the legal condition of societies established for
the promotion of literature, science, or the fine arts, or for the diffusion of
useful knowledge, [2][3][the diffusion of political education] or for charitable
purposes; 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 the Registrar of Joint-stock
Companies [3][4][* * *] 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 objects 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.
[4][5][3. Registration
fee.− 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 such fee as the Provincial Government
may direct, and all fees so paid shall be accounted for to the Provincial
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 society is held,
or, if the rules do not provide for an annual general meeting, in the month of
January, a list shall be filed with the Registrar of Joint-stock Companies of
the names, addresses and occupations of the governors, council, directors,
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 by their proper title.
6. Suits by and
against societies.− Every society registered under this Act may sue or
be sued in the name of the 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 to 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 or 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 judgment, 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 judgment 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-law 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 – Recovery by successful defendant of costs
adjudged.− 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 property in the manner
hereinbefore provided.
But if the defendant shall be
successful in any suit or other proceeding 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
willfully and maliciously destroy or injure any property of such society, or
shall forge any 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 month after the former meeting.
13. Provision
for dissolution of societies and adjustment of their affairs − Assent required
− Government consent.− 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:
Provided that no society shall be
dissolved unless three-fifths of the members shall have expressed a wish for
such dissolution by their votes delivered in person, or by proxy, at a general
meeting convened for the purpose:
Provided that [5][6][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 [6][7][without the consent of the Government of the Province of
registration].
14. Upon a dissolution no member to receive
profit − Clause not to apply to joint-stock companies.− 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
dissolution, or in default thereof, by such Court as aforesaid:
Provided, however, that this clause shall
not apply to any society which shall have been founded or established by the
contributions of shareholders in the nature of a Joint-stock Company.
15. Member defined − Disqualified members.− 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; but in all proceedings under this
Act no person shall be entitled to vote or to be counted as a member whose
subscription at the time shall have been in arrear 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.
[7][8][16-A. Supersession of governing body of a society.− (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the memorandum of
association, rules or regulations of a society registered under this Act, if,
after such inquiry as may be necessary, the Provincial Government is of the opinion
that the governing body of the society−
(a) is
unable to discharge or persistently fails in discharging its duties, or
(b) is
unable to administer its affairs or meet its financial obligations, or
(c) generally
acts in a manner contrary to public interest or the interests of the members of
the society,
the
Provincial Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare the
governing body to be superseded for such period, not exceeding one year, as may
be specified in the notification.
[8][9][Provided that the declaration shall not be made without
giving to the society to be affected thereby an opportunity of being heard.]
(2) On
the publication of a notification under sub-section (1),−
(a) the
office-bearers and other members of the governing body shall cease to hold
office; and
(b) all
functions of the governing body shall, during the period of supersession, be
performed by a governing body constituted by the Provincial Government from
among the members of the society.
(3) On
the expiry of the period of supersession, the governing body of the society
shall be reconstituted in accordance with its memorandum of association, rules
and regulations.]
17. Registration of societies formed before Act −
Assent required.− Any company or society established for a literary, scientific or
charitable purpose, and registered under [9][10]Act XLIII of 1850, or any such society established and
constituted previously to the passing of this Act but not registered under the
said [10][11]Act XLIII of 1850, may at any time hereafter be
registered as a society under this Act; 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 [11][12]Act XLIII of 1850, 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
preceding section obtaining registry under this Act, it shall be sufficient
that the governing body file with the Registrar of Joint-stock Companies [12][13][* * *] 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 − Certified Copies.−
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, [13][14][* * *] societies established for the promotion of
science, literature, or the fine arts, for instruction, the diffusion of useful
knowledge, [14][15][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 painting and other works
of art, collections of natural history, mechanical and philosophical
inventions, instruments, or designs.
[15][16][21. Registration
of Deeni Madaris.– (1) All Deeni Madaris, by whatsoever
name called, shall not operate without getting themselves registered:
Provided that the Deeni
Madaris, which are established after the commencement of this Act, shall get
themselves registered within one year of their establishment.
Explanation. One Deeni Madrassah, having more than one campus, shall
need only one registration.
(2) Every
Deeni Madrassah shall submit annual report of its educational activities to the
Registrar.
(3) Every
Deeni Madrassah shall cause to be carried out audit of its accounts by an
auditor and submit a copy of its audit report to the Registrar.
(4) No
Deeni Madrassah shall teach or publish any literature which promotes militancy
or spreads sectarianism or religious hatred:
Provided that nothing contained
herein shall bar the comparative study of various religions or schools of
thought or the study of any other subject covered by the Holy Quran, Sunnah or
the Islamic jurisprudence.
Explanation.
In this section “Deeni Madrassah” means a religious institution and includes a
Jamia, Dar-ul-Uloom, School, College, University or called by any other name,
established or operated primarily for the purposes of imparting religious
education, which provides boarding and lodging facilities.]
The Act (with the exception of the first four sections) is
based on Literary and Scientific Institutions Act, 1854.
It had been declared to be in force in all the
Provinces and the Capital of the Federation, except the Scheduled Districts, by
s. 3 of the Laws Local Extent Act, 1874 (15 of 1874).
It had been
declared by Notification under s. 3 (a) of the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874
(14 of 1874), to be in force in the Scheduled Districts; namely − Hazara, Peshawar , Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi
Khan. [Portions of the Districts of
Hazara, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan and the Districts of Peshawar and Kohat now form the N.W.F.P., see Gazette
of India
[3][4]The words and
figures “under Act 19 of 1857” repealed by the Repealing Act, 1874 (16 of
1874).
[5][6]Substituted by the Government of India India
[7][8]Added by the Societies Registration
(West Pakistan Amendment) Ordinance, 1962 (IX of 1962), and substituted by the
Conformity with Fundamental Rights (Punjab Amendment of Laws) Act, 1976 (IX of
1976).
[12][13]The
words and figures “under Act 19 of 1857,” repealed by the Repealing Act, 1874
(16 of 1874).
[13][14]The words “the military orphan
funds or societies established at the several presidencies of India
[15][16]Inserted by the Societies
Registration (Amendment) Act 2005 (XIII of 2005) and substituted by the
Societies Registration (Amendment) Act 2006 (VII of 2006).
No comments:
Post a Comment