Updated: Tuesday July 16, 2013/AthThulatha
Ramadan 09, 1434/Mangalavara
Asadha 25, 1935, at 07:36:56 PM
[1][1]The Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) Act, 1953
(Act XXXI of 1953)
[3
November 1953]
An Act to provide for the regulation,
administration and accounting of collections of charitable donations and for
the prevention of frauds
WHEREAS
it is expedient to provide for the regulation, administration and accounting of
collections of charitable donations and for the prevention of frauds;
It is hereby enacted as follows:---
1. Short
title, extent and commencement.— (1) This Act may be
called the Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) Act, 1953.
[2][2][(2) It extends to the whole of the
(3) It
shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.—
In this Act, unless therein anything repugnant in the subject or the
context,---
(a) “collect”
and “collection” with their grammatical variations and cognate expressions mean
and include appealing for, receiving, collecting and attempting to collect,
whether directly or indirectly, any donations whether in money or in kind and
whether from the public in a public manner or from particular individuals or
otherwise for any fund to which this Act applies; but do not include mere
advice by any person not himself engaged in making the collection;
(b) “private
fund” means a fund consisting of donations whether in money or kind given by
way of charity for the benefit of an individual or a family or a group of
persons related to each other or connected with each other for some purpose, when
the aggregate of the donations collected or to be collected in any year exceeds
or is likely to exceed in value two hundred and fifty rupees but neither
exceeds nor is likely to exceed five thousand rupees.
(c) “charitable
fund” means any fund consisting of donations whether in money or kind given by
way of charity,---
(i) for the benefit of an individual or a family or a group of persons
related to each other or connected with each other for some purpose, when the
aggregate of the donations collected or to be collected in any year exceeds or
is likely to exceed in value five thousand rupees; or
(ii) for the benefit of any institution, association, society or
undertaking of which the sole or a principal object is the establishment or
maintenance or benefit of a mosque, dargah, orphanage, widows’ home,
educational institution or other similar establishment, or the relief of
poverty, sickness or distress or any other educational, religious, benevolent
or philanthropic purpose;
(d) “promoter”
of a fund means a person holding himself responsible for the due collection,
custody, administration and accounting of the donations which it is intended or
proposed to make for a private or a charitable fund;
(e) “collector”
of a fund means a person actually engaged in collecting donations for a private
or a charitable fund;
(f) “recipient”
of a fund means an individual, institution, association, society or undertaking
for whose benefit a private or a charitable fund is or is to be collected;
(g) “declaration”
means a declaration duly made as prescribed by the promoter or promoters of a
private or a charitable fund and in force under the rules made under this Act,
and stating—
(i) the names and addresses of the promoters of the fund;
(ii) the value of the donations which it is intended to collect;
(iii) the names and addresses of the collectors of the fund;
(iv) the names and addresses of the recipients of the fund;
(v) the objects and purposes for which the donations are to be
utilised;
(vi) the names of the banks or the persons in whose custody the
collections are to be kept;
[3][3][(gg) “Government” means the Government of [4][4][the
(h) “sanctioning
authority” means a person appointed by the [5][5][Government] to be a
sanctioning authority for the purposes of this Act;
(i) “prescribed”
means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
3. Regulation
of private and charitable funds.— (1) No person shall
make any collection for any private fund or any charitable fund except in
accordance with the provisions of this Act.
[6][6][(2) Nothing in this Act shall apply to,---
(a) any donation made directly to any individual or individuals for the
personal benefit of such individual or individuals;
(b) the income from boxes placed at, and offerings or subscriptions
made to or for the purposes of mosques, takias,
khankahs, dargahs or other shrines, the administration whereof has been
taken over and assumed by the Chief Administrator of Auqaf, [7][7][Punjab] under provisions of the [8][8]West Pakistan Waqf Properties Ordinance, 1961[9][9].]
4. Declaration
of collections of private funds.— (1) No person shall
make any collection for any private fund unless—
(a) before the
commencement of the collection a declaration in respect of the private fund has
been duly made in the prescribed form and been duly delivered by hand or by
registered post, acknowledgment due, to the sanctioning authority, and
(b) his name and address is duly shown as a
promoter or collector of the fund in the declaration.
5. Sanctioning of collection of charitable
funds.— (1) No person shall make
any collection for any charitable fund unless before the commencement of the
collection a declaration in respect of the intended collection has been duly
made and delivered to the sanctioning authority, and the sanctioning authority
has sanctioned the collection in writing.
(2) The sanctioning authority may refuse to
sanction the collection if the object of the collection appears to it to be
immoral or contrary to public policy, or if the authority is not satisfied with
regard to the bona fides of the
persons proposing to make the collection, or if the authority is not satisfied
with regard to the proper custody of the fund or the due administration of the
fund for the purposes for which it is to be collected.
(3) The
sanctioning authority may sanction the collection on such conditions as it may
consider it necessary to impose for ensuring the proper custody of the fund and
its due administration and utilisation for the objects and purposes of the
fund.
(4) When
the collection of any fund is intended to be for the benefit of an institution,
association, society or undertaking, the sanctioning authority, if it considers
it necessary, may sanction the collection on the condition that the
institution, association, society or undertaking shall be registered under the
Societies Registration Act, 1860[10][10], either before
the commencement of the collection or within a specified period.
(5) If
the sanctioning authority sanctions the collection, it shall issue or cause to
be issued certificates, in the form and manner prescribed, to persons desirous
of making the collection, authorising them to make the collection; provided
that the sanctioning authority may refuse to issue or to cause to be issued any
such certificate, and may cancel any certificate which has been issued, to any
person [11][11][after giving
such person an opportunity of being heard], if the sanctioning authority is not
satisfied with regard to the bona fides of
the person.
(6) No
person shall collect any donation for any charitable fund unless he is in
possession of a certificate duly issued to him and in force under sub-section
(5) authorising him to make the collections.
6. Maintenance
and audit of accounts.— (1) Every promoter, collector and
recipient of every fund or donation to which this Act applies shall maintain or
cause to be maintained a true and proper account in the prescribed manner of
the fund or donation collected.
(2) The
accounts of all charitable funds shall be audited and submitted to the sanctioning
authority in the prescribed manner and at prescribed times or intervals.
(3) The
sanctioning authority may at any time for reasons to be stated in writing
require by order any accounts of any charitable fund to be audited or
re-audited by a specified auditor at the cost of any particular individual or
individuals.
(4) The
sanctioning authority may at any time inspect or cause to be inspected any
accounts maintained under this section.
(5) Any
person who dishonestly or fraudulently tampers with, conceals or destroys any
records pertaining to the collection of any fund to which this Act applies
shall be deemed to have contravened this Act and be punishable accordingly.
7. Misapplication
of funds.— (1) No part of any donations collected for any
private or charitable fund shall be used for any purpose or object other than
the purpose or object for which it was collected, except under the order of a
competent court, or in the case of a charitable fund, of the Treasurer of
Charitable Endowments.
(2) No charitable fund in the custody of any
persons authorised to hold it shall be transferred to any other persons except
with the permission in writing of the sanctioning authority or under the order
of a court.
(3) If any part of any donations collected
for any private or charitable fund is used for any purpose or object other than
that for which it was collected, or is otherwise misapplied or misappropriated
in any manner, every person concerned with the collection or administration of
the fund, whether as a promoter, collector or a recipient, shall unless he
proves that the misuse, misapplication or misappropriation occurred without his
knowledge and that he had used all due diligence to prevent such misuse,
misapplication or misappropriation, shall be deemed to have acted in
contravention of this section and be punishable accordingly.
8. Application
of Act VI of 1890.— Notwithstanding anything contained in
the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890, hereinafter referred to as “the said Act”
every fund which is a charitable fund for the purposes of this Act shall be
deemed to be a charitable endowment and the purpose of every such fund shall be
deemed to be a charitable purpose for the purposes of the said Act, and the
said Act shall apply accordingly.
9. Powers
of sanctioning authority.— The sanctioning authority may at any
time for reasons appearing to it to be sufficient cancel or alter any order
made or direction given by it under this Act.
10. Appellate
authority.— [12][12][(1) Government
may appoint a person, by name or in virtue of his office, to be the appellate
authority for the purposes of this Act.]
(2) Any
person who is dissatisfied with any order passed or direction given or refusal
to make any order or give any direction by the sanctioning authority, may within
thirty days of the order, direction or refusal, appeal against it to the
appellate authority, and the appellate authority may thereupon make such order
as it thinks fit in accordance with this Act.
[13][13][11. Revision.—
Government may at any time revise any order made by the appellate authority or
otherwise under this Act and pass such order in accordance with this Act, as it
deems proper.]
12. Penalty for contraventions.— Any person who acts in contravention of any of the
provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder or of any order made,
direction given or condition imposed under this Act shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months or
with fine or with both.
13. Offences
cognizable, bailable, and non-compoundable.— An offence
punishable under this Act shall be cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable.
14. Prosecution
subject to sanction by District Magistrate.— No prosecution
under this Act shall be commenced except with the previous sanction of the
District Magistrate.
15. Jurisdiction
of Magistrates.— No court inferior to that of a
magistrate of the first class shall try an offence under this Act.
16. Application
of other laws.— Save as provided, the provisions of this
Act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time
being in force.
17. Exemptions.—
The [14][14][Government]
may by a general or a special order exempt any fund or any person, institution,
association, society or undertaking from all or any of the provisions of this
Act, and the exemption may be made subject to such conditions as the [15][15][Government]
may think proper.
18. Rules.—
[16][16][(1) Government
may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules to carry out the
purposes of this Act.]
(2) Without
prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the rules may provide for—
(a) the form and contents of declarations and the
verification of statements made therein;
(b) the periods for which declarations shall
remain in force and the manner in which the periods may be extended or
terminated;
(c) the form and manner in which receipts for
donations may be given and the maintenance of proper vouchers for the purposes
of the accounts;
(d) the maintenance of proper books of account and
the auditing of the accounts;
(e) the periodical submission of statements of
accounts;
(f) the supervision, inspection and examination of
accounts;
(g) the payment of charges for forms of
declarations, certificates; etc.
19. Protection
of persons acting under this Act.— No prosecution, suit or other legal
proceeding shall be instituted against any person in respect of anything which
is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act.
[1][1]For the statement of objects
and reasons, see, Gazette of
Pakistan, 1953, Pt. IX, p. 136.
The Act has been applied to
[2][2]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (
[3][3]Inserted by the Repealing and Amending Ordinance, 1961 (I of 1961), and substituted first by the Central Adaptation of Laws Order, 1964 (P.O. 1 of 1964) and, then, by the Charitable Funds (Regulation of Collections) (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967 (II of 1967).
[4][4]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb A.O. 1 of 1974), for “
[5][5]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (
[6][6]Substituted ibid.
[7][7]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “
[8][8]Now “the
[9][9]XXVIII of 1961.
[10][10]XXI of 1860.
[11][11]Inserted by the
[12][12]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (
[13][13]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (
[14][14]Substituted ibid., for “the Commissioner”.
[15][15]Ibid.
[16][16]Substituted by the Charitable
Funds (Regulation of Collections) (
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