Societies Registration Act, 1860

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THE SOCIETIES REGISTRATION ACT, 1860 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
1.  Societies formed by memorandum of association and registration  
2.   Memorandum of association 
3.  Registration Fees 
4.  Annual list of managing body to be filed 
5.  Property of society how vested 
6.  Suits by and against societies 
7.  Suits not to abate 
8.  Enforcement of judgment against society 
9.  Recovery of penalty accruing under bye-law 
 
10.  Members liable to be sued as strangers  
 Recovery by successful defendant of costs adjudged 
11.  Members guilty of offences punishable as strangers 
12.  Societies enabled to alter, extend or abridge their purposes 
 
13.  Provision for dissolution of societies and adjustment of their affairs 
 Assent required  
 Government consent 
 
 
14.  Upon a dissolution no member to receive profit 
 Clause not to apply to Joint-stock Companies 
15.  Member defined.  
 Disqualified members  
16.  Governing body defined 
 
17.  Registration of Societies formed before Act 
 Assent required 
18.  Such societies to file memorandum, etc., with Registrar of Joint-stock Companies 
 

 
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19.  Inspection of documents 
 Certified copies 
20.  To what societies Act applies 
21.  Registration of Deeni Madaris  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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1[THE SOCIETIES REGISTRATION ACT, 1860] 
2,3,4&5Act No. XXI of 1860 
[21st 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 pro motion of literature, scie nce, or the fine arts, or for the 
diffusion of useful knowledge, 6[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 7[* * *] from themselves 
into a society under this Act. 
 2.  Memorandum of a ssociation.—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 o ccupations 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. 
 
 
1Short title given by the Short Title Act, 1897 (XIV of 1897). 
2The Act (with exception of the first four sections) is based on the Literary and Scientific Institutions Act No. XVII & XVIII Vict., c 112, ss. 20 et seq. 
It has 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 No. XV of 1874. 
It has been declared to be in force in Baluchistan by the British Baluchistan Laws Regulation No. II of 1913, s. 3. 
It has been declared, by notification under s. 3(a)  of the Scheduled Districts Act No.  XIV of 1874, to be in force in the following Scheduled Districts, 
namely:— 
The Districts of 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., 1901, Pt. I, p. 857, and ibid., 1902, 
Pt. I, p. 575]. 
It has been extended, by notification under s. 5 of the last-mentioned Act, to the Scheduled District of Sind-See Gazette of India, 1880, Pt. I, p. 672. 
It has been applied to Phulera in the Excluded Area of Upper Tanawal to the extent the Act is applicable in the N.W.F.P., sub ject to certain modifica-
tions; and extended to the Excluded Area of Upper Tanawal (N.W.F.P.) other than Phulera with effect from such date and subject to such modifications 
as may be notified-See N.W.F.P. (Upper Tanawal) (Excluded Area) Laws Regulation, 1950. 
It has also been extended to the Leased Areas of Baluchistan by the Leased Areas (Laws) Order, 1950 ( G. G. O. 3 of 1950); and applied in the 
Federated Areas of Baluchistan, see Gazette of India, 1937, Pt. I.,  p. 1499. 
3This Act has been amended in its application to the province of the Punjab. Vide Punjab Act No. IX of 1976 and Punjab Ord. No. XV of 1984. 
4This Act has also been amended in its application to the province of N.W.F.P by N.W.F.P Act No. IV of 1976 and N.W.F.P Ordinance No. V of 1976. 
5This Act has also been amended in its application in the province of Sind by Sind Ord. No. XLI of 1984. 
6These words were added by the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act No. XXII of 1927. 
7The words and figures “under Act XIX of 1857” rep. by the Repealing Act No. XVI of 1874. See now the Companies Act No.VII of 1913, s.288.  
This Act has been amended to the extent of Islamabad Capital Territory, see Ord. No. XXVII of 1981, s. 5 and 4th Sch. 
This Act has been amended in its application to the Province of Sind by the Sind Act No. V of 1976. 
The Act has also been amended in its application to the Province of Baluchistan by Act No. XXVIII of 1976, s. 2 and Sch. 
 
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 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 Fees.—Upon such memorandum and certified copy being filed, the registrar 
shall certify under his hand that the society is register ed under this Act. There shall be paid to the 
registrar for every such registration a fee of fifty rupees, or such smaller fee as 1[the Provincial 
Government] may, from time to time, direct; and all fees so paid shall be accounted for to 1[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 Com panies 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, moveable and immoveable, 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 again st the 
society, to sue the president or chair man, or principal secretary or the trustees thereof, if on applica -
tion 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 su it 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, moveable or immoveable, or against the body of such person or officer, but against the pro-
perty 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. 
 
 
lSubs. by A.O., 1937.  
 
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  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 re covered 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 su ch arrear or for the damage 
accruing from such detention, injury or destruction of 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 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 pro cess 
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 de stroy 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 li able 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 o r 
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. —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 settle ment 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 af fairs shall be referred to the principal 
 
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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 society shall be dissolved unless three -fifths o f 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: 
 Government consent. Provided that 1[whenever any Government] is a member of, or a 
contributor to, or otherwise interested in, any society regis tered under this Act, such society shall not 
be dissolved 1[without the consent of the Government of the Province of 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 gi ven 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 shall have been founded or established by the contributions of 
shareholders 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 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. 
 17. Registration of societies formed before Act.—Any company or society established for a 
literary, scientific or charitable purpose, and registered under 2Act 3[VII of 1913], or any such society 
established and constituted previously to the passing of this Act but not registered under the said 2Act 
3[VII of 1913], 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.  
 
 
lSubs. by A. O., 1937. 
2Rep. by the Indian Companies Act No. X of 1866, s. 219. 
3Subs. by Ord. No. XXVII of 1981, s.5 and Sch., IV (only to the extent of Islamabad Capital Territory). 
 
 
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 In the case of a company or society registered under 1Act 2[VII of 1913] , the directors shall 
be deemed to be such governing body. 
 In the case of a society not so registere d, 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 memora ndum, 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 3[* 
* * ] 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;  
 Certified copies. 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, 4[* * *], societies established for the prom otion of science, literature, or 
the fine arts, for instruction, the diffusion of useful knowledge, 5[the diffusion of political education], 
the foundation or main tenance 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.  
 
 6[21. Registration of Deeni Madaris. —(1) Every Deeni Madrasa, by whatever name calle d, 
shall not operate without getting itself registered in the following manner, namely:— 
 
(a)  the Deeni Madrasa  in existence before the commencement of the Societies 
Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024,  (XXXVIII of 2024), if not already 
registered, 7[may] get itself registered under this Act within six months from 
commencement of the So cieties Registration  (Amendment) Act, 2024 
(XXXVIII of 2024); 7[*] 
 
(b)  a Deeni Madrasa established after commencement of the Societies 
Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, ( XXXVIII of 2024),  7[may] get itself 
registered under this Act  7[or otherwise,] within one year of its establishment  
7[; and]          
 
 
1Rep. by the Indian Companies Act No. X of 1866, s. 219. 
2Subs. by Ord. No. XXVII of 1981, s.5 and Sch., IV (only to the extent of Islamabad Capital Territory). 
3Rep. by the Repealing Act No. XVI of 1874. See now the Companies Act, 1913 (VII of 1913), s.288. 
4Omitted by A.O., 1949, Sch. 
5Ins. by Act No. XXII of 1927. 
6Added by Act No. XXXVIII of 2024, s. 2. 
7 Subs. omit and ins. by Act No. XXXI of 2025, s. 2. 
  
 
 
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Explanation.—A Deeni Madrasa having more than one campus shall need only one 
registration. 
1[(c)  those Madaris and Wafaqs already registered or desirous to register 
themselves directly with Directorate General of R eligious Education, Ministry 
of Federal Education and Professional Training , shall be reckoned to have 
been registered and shall be dealt with accordingly under the relevant 
dispensations.] 
 
 
(2) Every Deeni Madrasa shall submit to the Registrar annual rep ort of its educational 
activities. 
 
 (3) Every Deeni Madrasa 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 Madrasa shall teach or publish any literature which promot es 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. 
 
 (5) Every Deeni Madrasa shall,  subject to their resources, 1[accord priority to]  include basic 
contemporary subjects in their curriculum according to a phased program. 
 
 (6) For registration of Deeni Madrasa under this Act  1[or otherwise], no Deeni Madrasa shall 
be required to register itself under any other law for the time being in force. 
 
 (7) Once registered under this Act  1[or otherwise], no Deeni Madrasa shall be required to be 
registered under any other law whatsoever for the time being enforce. 
 
 Explanation.—In this section “Deeni Madrasa” means a religious institution and includes a 
Jamia or Dar-ul-Uloom, called by any other name, established or operated primarily for the purposes 
of imparting religious education, which provides boarding and lodging facilities.] 
 
_______ 
 
 
Date: 09-10-2025 
 
 
1Ins. by Act No. XXXI of 2025, s. 2.