Society Registration

Purpose Of Society Registration

As per the society registration act, the main objective of doing society registration is the promotion &
development of arts, literature or science as well as providing adequate knowledge about these fields to
people in order to raise awareness among them. A society is generally registered for charitable purposes.
Every registered society must comply with society rules & regulations after online society registration.

As per the society registration act, a society can be incorporated for the following purposes –

Promotion of fine arts
Promotion of literature & science
Creation of military orphan funds
Grant of charitable assistance
Spreading political education to raise awareness among people
Promoting & spreading useful knowledge to people
Foundation or maintenance of reading rooms or libraries  Foundation or maintenance of galleries or public museums
Collections of Mechanical & Philosophical inventions, designs & instruments.
Collections of natural history

Memorandum Of Association Of The Society

The Memorandum of the society along with rules and regulations must be signed by each establishing
member and witnessed by Gazetted Officer, Chartered Accountant, first-class magistrate, Advocate, Oath
Commissioner, Notary Public with their official stamping and complete address. The memorandum of
association must also include details of the members of the society registration along with their names,
addresses, occupations & designations. For the society registration, the following documents are required to be prepared, submitted and signed -

Request for the registration of the society by providing a covering letter signed by all establishing
members.

Duplicate copy of the Memorandum of society along with a certified copy.

Duplicate copy of society’s rules and regulations along with a duplicate copy signed by all the establishing
members. Address proof of society’s registered once along with the NOC (no-objection certificate) issued by the landlord.

Affidavit declaration by secretary or Society president to explain the relationship among subscribers.
Few minutes of the meeting regarding society’s registration along with some important documents

Documents Required For Society Registration

Formed rules can be changed, but a new set of rules must be signed by the President, Vice-president,
Chairman and Secretary of the society.

PAN card - PAN card of all the proposed members of the society along with the application
Residence proof - Residence proof of all the members of the society. A valid residence proof can be
a –

1 Aadhaar card
2 Passport
3 Utility bills such as Electricity bill, Water bill, Mobile bill, Gas bill etc.
4 Driving license
5 Bank statement

Memorandum of association – It covers all the following clauses and information –

1 Name, address, designations & occupation of the society members
2 Address of the registered office
3 Objectives of the society
 Articles of association – It covers all the following information –
1 Rules & regulations pertaining to the society & maintenance of day to day activities.
2 Rules for taking society membership
3 Details about society meeting along with its frequency
4 Form of arbitration in case any dispute arises between the members of the society
5 Auditors information
6 Ways for society dissolution

Covering letter - A covering letter mentioning the purpose of establishing the society. It must be
signed by all the founding members of the society.

List of governing members - List of governing members of the society.

Society Registration Procedure

The step by step procedure of incorporating a society is as follows –
Major criteria – The first & the major criteria essential to apply for society registration is the
minimum number of persons required to form a society. A minimum of 7 members are required to
form a society. It becomes easy for companies or foreign nationals to form a society under the
Indian societies act.

Searching a unique name – To register a society, you must search for a unique name that should
not be duplicated and accepted by all the members of society. A Society name proposed by the
society members should not match with any existing society name; otherwise your application will
be opposed by the existing registration holder, and it may get rejected. Names prohibited by any
other statutory provisions will also get excluded.

Preparation of MOA & Bye-laws – Memorandum of association along with society rules &
regulations (Bye-laws), must be signed by each and every member of the society in the presence of
oath commissioner, Gazette officer, Notary public, Advocate, Chartered accountant or first class
magistrate with their complete address along with official stamps. All these documents can be
written/typed/printed on plain paper. Designations should be properly distributed among the
members of the society. The functioning of the society is controlled by the members of the society
collectively called the governing body. All the society members are elected for a specific period and
can be re-elected through elections again. There are various clauses under the Memorandum of
association –

Name clause
Object clause
Registered office clause
General body member clause & list
Governing body member/Office bearers clause & list
Drafting of rules & regulations – In the third step, rules & regulations are drafted and certified by
the members of the governing body, i.e. Chairman, President & Vice-president.

Submission of required documents & registration application – In the fourth step, the document
of MOA & bye-laws are filed to the registrar of society under the state government. If the registrar of
societies is satisfied with the society rules and regulations and the documents filed along with the
application by the governing body, the registrar approved the application and issues a certificate of society registration to the governing body along with the Society registration number. The society
registration generally takes one month from the date of submission of the application.

Advantages Of Society Registration

1 Once a society is registered, it will be considered as a separate legal entity.
2 Society contains the right to buy, sell, rent or lease property.
3 A society can borrow money or even enter into any legal contract in its own name.
4 A society is provided exemption from Income tax.
5 The members of the society are not personally liable for any debt or obligations.

Limitations Of Society Registration

1 Neither a system of equity investment nor a system of ownership exists in a society.
2 It is basically made for the benefit of the people of the society and not for the aim of earning profits. It
is basically incorporated for a charitable purpose.
3 Lack of professionalism
4 Not allowed to accept deposits from the public.