#THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES ACT, 1880 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Short title. 
Local extent. 

2. Appointment of new trustee in cases not otherwise provided for. 

3. Appointment under section 2 to be recorded in a memorandum under the hand of the chairman of 
the meeting. 

4. Property to vest in new trustees without conveyance. 

5. Saving of existing modes of appointment and conveyance. 

6. Provision for dissolution of societies and adjustment of their affairs. 

7. Upon a dissolution no member to receive profit. 

8. Saving of certain provisions of instruments. 

9. Questions may be submitted to High Court. 



#THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES ACT, 1880 

ACT NO. 1 OF 1880

[9th January, 1880.] 

An Act to confer certain powers on Religious Societies. 

WHEREAS it is expedient to simplify the manner in which certain bodies of persons associated for the 
purpose of maintaining religious worship may hold property acquired for such purpose, and to provide for 
the dissolution of such bodies and the adjustment of their affairs and for the decision of certain questions 
relating to such bodies; It is hereby enacted as follows:— 

1. **Short title.**—This Act may be called the Religious Societies Act, 1880. 

**Local extent.**—It shall extend to the whole of India except the territories which, immediately 
before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in Part B States, 

but  nothing  herein  contained  shall  apply  to  any  Hindus,  Muhammadans  or  Buddhists,  or  to  any 
persons  whom  the  State  Government  may  from  time  to  time,  by  notification  in  the  Official  Gazette, 
exclude from the operation of this Act. 

2. **Appointment of new trustee in cases not otherwise provided for.**—When any body of persons 
associated for the purpose of maintaining religious worship has acquired, or hereafter shall acquire, any 
property, 

and such property has been or hereafter shall be vested in trustees in trust for such body, 

and it becomes necessary to appoint a new trustee in the place of or in addition to any such trustee or 
any trustee appointed in the manner hereinafter prescribed, 

and no manner of appointing such new trustee is prescribed by any instrument by which such property 
was so vested or by which the trusts on which it is held have been declared, or such new trustee cannot 
for any reason be appointed in the manner so prescribed, 

such  new  trustee  may  be  appointed  in  such  manner  as  may  be  agreed  upon  by  such  body,  or  by  a 
majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of such body actually present at the meeting at which 
the appointment is made. 

3. **Appointment  under  section  2  to  be  recorded  in  a  memorandum  under  the  hand  of  the 
chairman of the meeting.**—Every appointment of new trustees under section 2 shall be made to appear 
by some memorandum under the hand of the chairman for the time being of the  meeting at which such 
appointment is made. 

Such memorandum shall be in the form set forth in the Schedule hereto annexed, or as near thereto as 
circumstances allow, shall be executed and attested by two or more credible witnesses in the presence of 
such meeting, and shall be deemed to be a document of which the registration is required by the Indian 
Registration Act, 1877 (3 of 1877), section 17. 

4. **Property to vest in new trustees without conveyance.**—When any new trustees have been 
appointed, whether in the manner prescribed by any such instrument as aforesaid  or  in  the  manner 
hereinbefore  provided,  the  property  subject  to  the  trust  shall  forthwith,  notwithstanding  anything 
contained  in  any  such  instrument,  become vested, without any conveyance or other assurance, in such 
new trustees and the old continuing trustees jointly, or, if there are no old continuing trustees, in such new 
trustees wholly, upon the same trusts, and with and subject to the same powers and provisions, as it was 
vested in the old trustees. 

5. **Saving of existing modes of appointment and conveyance.**—Nothing herein contained shall be 
deemed  to  invalidate any  appointment  of  new  trustees,  or any  conveyance  of  any  property,  which  may 
hereafter be made as heretofore was by law required. 

6. **Provision for dissolution of societies and adjustment of their affairs.**—Any number not less 
than three-fifths of the members of any such body as aforesaid may at a meeting convened for the purpose 
determine that such body shall be dissolved; and thereupon it shall be dissolved forthwith, or at the time 
then agreed upon; and all necessary steps shall be taken for the disposal and settlement of the property of 
such body, its claims and liabilities, according to the rules of such body applicable thereto, if any, and, if 
not, then as such body at such meeting may determine: 

Provided that, in the event of any dispute arising among the members of such body, the adjustment of 
its affairs shall be referred to the principal Court of original civil jurisdiction of the district in which the 
chief building of such body is situate; and the Court shall make such order in the matter as it deems fit. 

7. **Upon a dissolution no member to receive profit.**—If  upon  the  dissolution  of  any  such  body 
there remains, after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any property whatsoever, the same shall 
not be paid to or distributed among the members of such body or any of them, but shall be given to some 
other body of persons associated for the purpose of maintaining religious worship or some other religious 
or charitable purpose to be determined by the votes of not less than three-fifths of the members present at 
a meeting convened in this behalf, or in default thereof by such court as last aforesaid. 

8. **Saving of certain provisions of instruments.**—Nothing in sections 6 and 7 shall be deemed to 
affect any provision contained in any instrument for the dissolution of such body, or for the payment or 
distribution of such property. 

9. **Questions may be submitted to High Court.**—When  any  question  arises,  either  in  connection 
with the matters hereinbefore referred to, or otherwise, as to whether any person is a member of any such 
body as aforesaid, or as to the validity of any appointment under this Act, any person interested in such 
question may apply by petition to the High Court for its opinion on such question. A copy of such petition 
shall  be  served  upon,  and  the  hearing  thereof  may  be  attended  by,  such  other  persons  interested  in  the 
question as the Court thinks fit. 

Any opinion given by the Court on an application under this section shall be deemed to have the force 
of a declaratory decree.

The costs of every application under this section shall be in the discretion of the Court. 


                                                           
##THE SCHEDULE 

(*See* section 3) 

Memorandum  of  the  appointment  of  the  new  trustees  of  the (*describe  the  church,  chapel,  or  other 
buildings and property*) situate at a meeting duly convened and held for that purpose (*in the vestry of the 
said*                            ) on the day of 18 

, A.B. of Chairman. 

Names and descriptions of all the trustees on the constitution or last appointment of trustees, made the 
day of 

*(here insert the same)*

Names  and  descriptions  of  all  the  trustees  in  whom  the  said *(chapel and property)* now  become 
legally vested, 

  *First*—Old continuing trustees:— 

*(here insert the same)*

  *Seconds.*—New trustees now chosen and appointed:— 

*(here insert the same)*

  Dated this day of 18 

  Signed by the said A.B. as chairman of the said meeting,   				 		  *A.B.,*
at and in the presence of the said meeting on the day and year              			*Chairman of the*
aforesaid in the presence of— 										*said meeting.* 

C.D. 

E.F. 

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