Societies Registration Act 1860 (Bare Act with Section Notes) - Book By Taxmann

Edition : 2027 

Societies Registration Act 1860 [Bare Act with Section Notes] by Taxmann is a single-volume working Edition of the Societies Registration Act 1860. The statutory text is freely available; what this book supplies is the apparatus around it—the amendments made by States and Union territories, printed below the sections they change; Section Notes under six sections that set out suits, judgments, bye-law penalties and the liability of members as short points; Case Laws on fifteen rulings of the Supreme Court and High Courts; footnotes on seven changes made to the text between 1874 and 1950; and a Subject Index to the Act.

The book solves a practical problem. Anyone who forms, runs, audits or advises a society under this Act has to piece together five things:

• The text of the 1860 Act, with the words later inserted, substituted or omitted
• The amendments a State or Union territory has made, on the names a society may take, renewal of registration, accounts and audit, change of name, cancellation, dissolution and offences
• Supreme Court and High Court rulings on registration, suits, rules, dissolution and membership
• A plain reading of the sections on suits, judgments, bye-law penalties and the liability of members
• A way to find the section that governs a given question

This volume brings them together: it prints the Act with footnotes on seven changes to its text, the State amendments below the sections they change, the rulings and notes in a COMMENTS box under the sections they concern, and a Subject Index to the Act.

This book is intended for the following audience:

• Advocates who act in suits by or against societies and in disputes over amendments, dissolution and membership, with Case Laws under nine sections and the notes on suits, the execution of judgments and the recovery of penalties
• Office-bearers and Secretaries of Societies who file the annual list of the governing body, sue or are sued for the society and convene the meetings that alter its purposes or dissolve it, with sections 4, 6, 12 and 13 and the notes under sections 6 to 9
• Founders of Charitable, Literary and Scientific Bodies who form a society by memorandum, with sections 1 to 3 and 20 on the memorandum, the rules, registration and the purposes that qualify, and the rulings on unregistered bodies and religious purposes
• Chartered Accountants and Auditors who audit society accounts, with the provisions on accounts, audit and balance-sheets added by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Assam and Puducherry
• Registrars and State Officials who register, rename, renew and cancel societies, with the State provisions on names, renewal, change of name, cancellation, investigation and the appointment of Administrators
• Members of Societies who need section 15 on who is a member and who may vote, sections 10 and 11 on members sued or prosecuted as strangers, and the ruling on members in arrears of subscription
• Company Secretaries and NGO Advisers who handle filings for societies, with the annual list under section 4 and the State provisions on statements of changes, returns and fees
• Law Students and Researchers who study the 1860 Act, with twenty sections, Section Notes, fifteen rulings, State amendments and a Subject Index that finds a section by its subject

The Present Publication is the 2027 Edition, covering the text of the Societies Registration Act 1860 [Act No. 21 of 1860] and the State amendments printed with it, with the law stated as updated till 20th October 2026. It has the following noteworthy features:

• [Section Notes – The Core Editorial Feature] Section Notes under six sections, sections 6 to 11, set the provisions out as short points under fourteen numbered heads. Under section 6, three heads explain in whose name a society sues or is sued, whom the governing body may appoint when the rules are silent, and the claimant's right under the proviso; under section 7, two heads explain that a suit does not abate when the office-bearer in whose name it runs dies or leaves office, and goes on in the successor's name; under section 8, three heads confine the execution of a judgment to the society's property and list what the execution application must state; and under section 9, three heads cover the bye-laws that may impose a pecuniary penalty, its recovery in court and the governing body's choice of court. Under sections 10 and 11, the notes list the defaults for which a member may be sued and the offences for which a member is prosecuted like a stranger
• [State Amendments] Amendments made by States and Union territories are printed in a separate block under the preamble and fifteen sections, below the provision they change, with a reference to the amending law. Uttar Pradesh adds provisions on renewal of registration, restrictions on transferring property, cancellation, dissolution by the court, audit, investigation and disputes over elections; Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa add provisions on undesirable names, returns of information, change of name, and accounts and audit; Assam adds the three-year validity and renewal of registration and fees for a change of name or address; Delhi, Odisha and Puducherry add provisions on change of name; and Goa's 2023 amendment adds the appointment of an Administrator
• [Case Laws] Case Laws under nine sections summarise fifteen rulings—eleven of the Supreme Court and four of High Courts—from 1981 to 2024. They deal with the standing of unregistered societies, voluntary association, the Registrar's acceptance of a governing body list, the vesting of property, suits in the name of office-bearers, amendments to a society's rules, mergers made without dissolution, the court for disputes on dissolution, members in arrears of subscription, and registration for religious purposes
• [Amendment Footnotes] Eight numbered footnotes sit at the foot of the page. Seven record changes made to the text: the words omitted from sections 1 and 18 by the Repealing Act 1874, the words on political education inserted in the preamble by the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act 1927, and the words substituted in sections 3 and 13 by the Adaptation of Laws Orders of 1937 and 1950. The eighth notes that the 1850 Act named in section 17 is now the Companies Act 2013
• [Research Tools] A two-page Contents list sets out the twenty sections with their pages, a one-page Subject Index of twenty entries finds a section by its heading, and running heads carry section references
• [Authoritative Bare Act Presentation] Taxmann's Bare Act editorial format is followed throughout. Section headings are set in bold above the text, the marginal notes inside sections, such as 'Assent required' and 'Disqualified members', open the paragraphs they govern, and a boxed COMMENTS device under fourteen sections keeps the Section Notes and Case Laws apart from the statutory text, with State amendments in their own block below

The structure of the book is as follows:

• Contents
• Societies Registration Act 1860, with Section Notes, Case Laws and State Amendments
• The preamble, with the State amendments to it
• Sections 1 to 4, on societies formed by memorandum, the memorandum of association, registration and fees, and the annual list of the managing body
• Sections 5 to 11, on the vesting of property, suits by and against societies, suits that do not abate, the enforcement of judgments, penalties under bye-laws, and members sued or punished as strangers
• Sections 12 to 16, on altering, extending or abridging purposes, dissolution, the bar on members taking surplus property, members and the governing body
• Sections 17 to 20, on societies formed before the Act, filing by such societies, inspection and certified copies, and the societies that may be registered, followed by the sections that States add after section 20
• Subject Index