Corruption in Registrar of Societies Office

We are a group of people consisting of professionals , retired and serving government officials and house wives . Recently we thought of doing social work and therefore started a NGO called ANUBHAV . When we started NGO we considered proper to get it registered .We decided that we would not take any help of so called agent or advocate to get our NGO registered. Luckily a website was available from where we got basic information about the requirements for registration of NGOs and accordingly we prepared the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of society and incorporated all requirements required as per law in our application .
Our representative approached the Registrar office at Patparganj area to submit the papers relating to society . Instead of receiving the papers at the receipt counter of Registrar office , the receiving clerk asked our representative to get papers checked by a another counter clerk . Our representative objected to this method and insisted for a proper receipt. After a long arguments the will of the receipt counter clerk prevailed and as per his wish our representative approached another clerk to get the papers checked . The concerned clerk saw the papers briefly and asked our representative to submit some more papers . After long arguments the clerk did not receive the papers and returned them to our representative . After a week time our representative approached the concerned clerk again with all necessary papers . This time also the clerk did not receive the papers and asked him to submit more papers. This new requirement was not told to us on previous visit . Like this our representative was sent back four times and every time with new requirement. We knew why our registration papers were not being entertained . The reason was not payment of bribe. As main objective of our NGO is the exposure of corruption at various level we decided that we would not indulge in corrupt practice ourselves and would not give any bribe to these clerks. When our patience crossed the limit our representative approached the Registrar of society directly and narrated the whole story to him It was good to see that registrar was kind enough to give a patient hearing and promised to deliver the registration papers after a week time . He kept his promise and handed over the registration paper on due data.
Now the question is why a simple thing like registration takes so much time for completion in a government organisation . In Registrar office we found loopholes in the system which these corrupt officials exploit to their advantage. In Registrar office there was no system of receiving and despatching the dak . Everything has been left to the mercy of clerks who exploit the situation to their advantage and take bribes to get the things done in faster way.


In order to know the real position in Registrar office and to what extent the corruption has infiltrated in this office we filed an application under RTI Act asking the various questions relating to the working of registrar office . The reply from Registrar of Societies though its letter no RFS/RTI/2007/Misc./253 Dated 29th February 2008 in respect to each query is mentioned below:

Query 1: How many applications for registration of societies received during 2007. Out of them how many applications were received in person and how many through dak.
Reply: Total 3388 applications for registration of societies were received during 2007 and all applications were received in person and no application was received through dak.

Query 2: How many applications for registration of societies rejected during 2007 and what were the broad reasons for rejections . Are rejected applications communicated the reasons in person or through dak.
Reply: No application was rejected during the year 2007.

Query3 : How many Registration certificates were dispatched through dak and how many delivered in person during last three years.
Reply : Registration certificates were not dispatched through dak and approx. 9500 certificates were delivered in person during last three years..

Query 4: How many societies were penalized during last three years for non compliance of various provisions under Society Registration Act 1860.
Reply: Information may be treated as nil.


The replies from the Registrar are quite interesting and surprising . I thought there would be at least some cases that would have been done in proper manner through dak. During 2007 , 3388 applications were received and during last three years 9500 Registration papers were delivered all in person. Not a single registration paper was dispatched through dak. Once I asked one of friend who applied for registration of society how did he get his society registered. He said that he paid Rs 5000 to a agent to get the registration. If we believe Rs 4000 was paid as bribe Rs 4 crore might have been paid to registrar office as bribe .
In order to regulate the societies there are various provisions like intimation of names of office bearers on yearly basis to registrar office etc. in Society Registration Act 1860. The registrar office intimated that not a single society has been found faulting on this account . It is clear that Registrar Office instead of regulating the societies is busy in taking bribes only. There is no time to see the files and regulate them .





At the end I would like to mention and stress that in all offices where public dealings are involved , efforts should be made to avoid person to person dealings. Applications should be allowed to be submitted through dak or through a properly regulated receipt counter . In modern technological world the application should be submitted on line and till this is done the practise of taking applications in person should be discontinued . If objections are to be raised it should be raised in writing and in one go . All registration papers should be despatched through dak only. No person to person contact should be allowed. At the Reception counter a sign board mentioning the procedure of filing applications should be available. No tout should be allowed to enter into the office .
We did not pay any bribe because we were determined not to do so but it does not happen in other cases. People are made to pay bribe because that they are ignorant of rules and procedures. If government is sincere and tries to make its action transparent as per suggestion given above corruption can be curtailed to a large extent.

Ajit Kumar
29, Vigyan Vihar
Delhi 110092
Mobile - 9868278984