Section 20 Societies Registration Act: Societies Eligible to Register

Not every association may register under the 1860 Act. Section 1 opens the door to persons associated for any literary, scientific or charitable purpose, or for any purpose described in section 20, and section 20 sets out, in the language of its age, the kinds of societies that may register. Reading the section well means attending both to its words and to what courts have read into them, above all the inclusion of religious purposes within charity and the exclusion of associations formed to make profit for their members.

1. The text

Section 20: To what societies Act applies

The following societies may be registered under this Act: Charitable societies, the military orphan funds or societies established at the several presidencies of India, societies established for the promotion of science, literature, or the fine arts, for instruction, the diffusion of useful knowledge, the diffusion of political education, the foundation or maintenance of libraries or reading-rooms for general use among the members or open to the public, or public museums and galleries of paintings and other works of art, collections of natural history, mechanical and philosophical inventions, instruments, or designs.

The classes in section 20

Figure 1: The classes in section 20

2. Reading the section

Section 1 and section 20 together. Section 1 admits literary, scientific and charitable purposes and then adds any purpose described in section 20. The two provisions are read together, so that a society qualifies if its purpose falls within either.
"Charitable" is the widest class. Charity in this context is not confined to relief of the poor; it extends to education, medical relief, public welfare and, as the Supreme Court has held, religious purposes.
Instruction and useful knowledge cover schools, colleges, coaching for public benefit, research bodies and professional associations whose object is the advancement of learning.
Political education permits bodies that study and spread political ideas. Many political and civic organisations have registered as societies on this footing.
Historical classes such as the military orphan funds of the presidencies survive in the text but have little modern use.
State amendments have widened the list in several States, and some State Acts frame the eligible purposes afresh, so the State text must be read for the current list.

3. Religious societies

📖 Hindu Public v. Rajdhani Puja Samithee, (1999) 2 SCC 583

Facts: A group in Bhubaneswar that had organised Durga Puja and related festivals formed the Rajdhani Puja Samithee in 1960 and registered it under the 1860 Act, with cultural activities alongside religious ones. Temples and a mandap were built on government land and public donations were sought. Proceedings under the Orissa Hindu Religious Endowments Act followed, and the society denied that it was a religious institution.

Held: The argument that a society cannot be registered for religious purposes was rejected. The words "charitable purposes" in the preamble and in sections 1 and 20 include religious purposes, and a society for religious purposes would ordinarily be a society for charitable purposes. On the facts, the properties were held to form a religious endowment under the State Act.

Ratio: A religious society may be registered under the 1860 Act as a charitable society; registration does not, however, take its property outside the religious endowments law where that law applies.

⚠ Note

Registration and endowment regulation are separate questions. A registered society that holds temples or religious property for the public may still be subject to the State's religious endowments statute, and in Maharashtra and Gujarat a society for religious or charitable purposes is also treated as a public trust under the public trusts law.

Testing eligibility for registration

Figure 2: Testing eligibility for registration

4. Commercial objects

Section 20 contains no trading class. An association formed to carry on business and divide profit among its members is not a society under the Act; its proper forms are a company, a partnership, a limited liability partnership or a co-operative.
A society may still earn income through fees, sale of publications, hospital charges or events, provided the income is applied to its objects and not distributed to members.
The Act's own provisions reinforce this: section 14 forbids distribution of surplus property among members on dissolution, and the memorandum must state objects within the permitted classes.
Registrars examine the memorandum before registration and may refuse objects that fall outside the Act. Under several State laws, registration can be cancelled if a society later carries on activities contrary to its objects.

Income for the objects against profit for members

Figure 3: Income for the objects against profit for members

⚠ Key point

The test is purpose and destination of income, not whether money is earned. A society that runs a fee charging school is within the Act; a society that exists to pay its members a share of surplus is not.

5. Quick Revision

✦ Section 20 in brief

Classes: charity; military orphan funds; science, literature, fine arts; instruction; useful knowledge; political education; libraries and reading rooms; museums, galleries and collections.

Read with section 1: literary, scientific, charitable, or a section 20 purpose.

Religion: within charity (Rajdhani Puja Samithee).

Trade: no class; income must serve objects, never members.

States: lists widened or redrawn; read the State text.

Section 20 lists the societies that may register.
Charity is broad enough to include religion and education.
Political education is an expressly permitted purpose.
Profit sharing is fatal; income generation for objects is not.
Registration does not displace endowment or public trust laws.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

Can a sports association register under the 1860 Act?

Yes, and many do, including national and State sports bodies. The bare text of section 20 does not mention sport, but promotion of a sport is commonly framed as instruction, diffusion of useful knowledge or a charitable object of public benefit, and several State laws expressly include it. The Board of Control for Cricket in India, for instance, is a society registered under the Tamil Nadu societies law. What matters is that the association's objects are non-profit and its income is applied to them.

Is a residents' welfare association eligible?

Generally yes. Residents' welfare associations are routinely registered as societies, their objects being framed as promoting the common welfare, amenities and civic life of the locality, which Registrars treat as charitable or welfare purposes. The position differs from a co-operative housing society, which owns property for its members and is governed by the co-operative societies law. Where an association's real purpose is to manage commonly owned property for members' benefit, the apartment ownership or co-operative laws of the State may be the proper framework.

What happens if a registered society drifts into business?

The society does not cease to exist automatically, but its activities may be outside its objects and its registration exposed. Under State laws that confer such powers, the Registrar may inquire into the society's affairs, require rectification or cancel registration. The drift also carries tax consequences, since exemption for charitable entities is lost or restricted where business income is not incidental to the objects, and members who take a share of profits may face civil and criminal liability for misapplying society property. A society contemplating substantial commercial activity should alter its objects under section 12 or create a separate vehicle, such as a section 8 company or a subsidiary, for the trading arm.

7. Related Topics and Provisions

Memorandum of association under section 2
Alteration of purposes under section 12
No distribution of surplus under section 14
Society, trust and section 8 company compared
Tax treatment of registered societies
State societies laws: an overview