Society Registration in Raipur

The law and where a society is registered

Societies in Chhattisgarh are registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 — the original central Act, applied directly, rather than a separate state enactment as is the case for public trusts. The application is made to the Registrar of Societies for the district in which the society's office is situated.

Seven or more persons, associated for a literary, scientific or charitable purpose, may form a society by subscribing their names to a memorandum of association and filing it with the Registrar. A society intended to operate nationally requires members drawn from a wider geographic spread. There is no requirement that members be Indian citizens or individuals — companies and other registered societies may also subscribe.

Permitted purposes under the Act include the promotion of literature, science or the fine arts, the diffusion of useful knowledge, charitable assistance, the maintenance of libraries, museums and galleries, and similar public-benefit objects. The purpose must fit within this list, which is broad but not unlimited.

Formation

The memorandum of association must state the society's name, its objects, and the names, addresses and occupations of the members of the governing body — the committee, council or other body to which management of the society's affairs is entrusted. It is signed by all the founding members.

Rules and regulations, governing how the society is actually run — membership, meetings, elections to the governing body, and the powers of office-bearers — accompany the memorandum, certified as a correct copy by at least three members of the governing body.

The name must not duplicate or closely resemble an existing registered society, must not suggest government patronage it does not have, and must not fall foul of the restrictions on names under the Emblems and Names Act.

Execution. The memorandum is signed by all founding members, typically before a Gazetted Officer, Notary Public, Chartered Accountant, Oath Commissioner, Advocate or first-class Magistrate.

Documents required

• Memorandum of association and rules and regulations, in duplicate
• Names, addresses, occupations and signatures of all founding members
• Proof of identity for members of the governing body
• Proof of the society's registered address, with a no-objection certificate from the owner where the premises are not the society's own

The annual filing almost every society misses

Once every year, a list of the governing body must be filed with the Registrar — the names, addresses and occupations of the persons currently entrusted with managing the society's affairs. It is due within fourteen days of the annual general meeting, or, where the society's rules do not provide for one, in the month of January.

This obligation is easy to overlook because nothing about running the society day to day prompts it, and because many societies are managed for years by the same committee with no apparent change to report. But the filing is required whether or not the committee has changed, and a long-neglected society can find itself trying to reconstruct years of governing body history at the point it actually needs to prove who is authorised to act — opening a bank account, executing a property transaction, or applying for tax registration.

A society's registration on its own gives no tax benefit. As with a trust, exemption from tax and the ability to give donors a deduction require separate registration with the income tax authorities — now under Section 332 and Section 354 respectively — dealt with on our 12AB and 80G page. A society can be validly registered under the 1860 Act and fully taxable at the same time.

Governance — the point most disputes turn on

Because a society is run by an elected committee rather than by trustees who appoint themselves, its rules matter more than a trust's deed does in one specific respect: succession and voting are contested far more often in a society than in a trust, precisely because the governing body is meant to change. Rules that are vague about who may vote, how the committee is elected, how a tie is resolved, or how a member may be expelled are where societies end up in dispute — sometimes in dispute over who is even entitled to file the annual list.

Rules worth drafting with real care rather than adopting from a template:

• Who qualifies as a member, and how membership is terminated
• The frequency and quorum of general meetings
• How the governing body is elected, and for what term
• What happens on a vacancy arising mid-term
• Whether and how the objects or rules can be amended
• What becomes of the society's property on dissolution

Society, trust or Section 8 company?

A society suits an organisation that genuinely wants to be governed by its members, through elections and general meetings, and that is comfortable with the annual filing this brings. A trust suits a founder or family wanting settled, long-term control without an electoral process. A Section 8 company suits an organisation prioritising the governance credibility that institutional and corporate funders look for, at the cost of considerably more compliance than either. All three can hold the same tax registrations.

Educational and professional bodies with a genuine membership tend toward a society. Family-founded charitable work tends toward a trust. Organisations built around attracting CSR or foreign funding increasingly choose a Section 8 company.

Scope of our work

We advise on whether a society is the right structure against a trust or Section 8 company; draft the memorandum and rules to the founders' actual intentions, with particular attention to elections, succession and dispute resolution; arrange execution and registration with the Registrar of Societies; maintain the annual filing of the governing body list, so it is never missed regardless of whether the committee has changed; obtain PAN and assist with opening the society's bank account; and apply for tax exemption registration and donor-approval registration once the society is formed.