 bill no 131 of  2017 the voluntary organisation (regulation) bill, 2017 byshri nishikant  dubey, mp a billto provide for recognition and regulation of voluntary organisations and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the voluntary organisations (regulation) act, 2017(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means  in the case of  a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;(b) "fund" means the voluntary organisations assistance fund established under section 10;5(c) "national board" means the national board of voluntary organisations established under section 3;(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and10(e) "voluntary organisation" means any organisation or institution or society, whether incorporated or registered or not, which is engaged in any of the following activities, namely:—(i) promoting literacy and adult education; (ii) involved in relief operations during natural calamities like floods,earthquakes, storms, squalls and likewise;15(iii) involved in relief operations and providing assistance to victims incases of accidents;(iv) involved in relief operations and providing assistance to victims duringstrikes and other forms of disturbances;20(v) organizing free medical camps, distributing free medicines, promotingin any way health awareness among general public or running free and charitable dispensaries;(vi) providing assistance to orphaned children and running children homesfor orphans;(vii) running schools for orphaned and destitute children and providingthem with all necessary facilities;25(viii) running homes for destitute women and providing all facilities andtraining in self-employment;(ix) running homes for aged and old persons, wherein all necessary facilitiesand support are provided;30(x) creating awareness among general public regarding pollution hazardsand teaching methods of pollution control;(xi) creating awareness among general public regarding dangerous diseaseslike aids and other contagious diseases;(xii) creating awareness among general public about family planning;35(xiii) creating awareness among general public about ill effects of socialevils like dowry, domestic discords and negligence of dependant persons;(xiv) creating awareness among general public about the need for religious,caste and linguistic harmony and educating public about measures to be adopted to achieve harmony;40(xv) spreading and taking all necessary steps to enable people to lead apeaceful and healthy life and for improving general standard of life,without any profit or commercial intention or motive3 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette,  establish a national board to be known as the national board of voluntary organisations for carrying out the purposes of this actestablishment of a national board of voluntary organisations(2) the headquarters of the national board shall be at new delhi (3) the national board shall consist of—5(i) a chairperson who shall have experience in social services for a period ofnot less than ten years, to be appointed by the central government;(ii) four other members who shall have experience in social services for aperiod of not less than five years, to be nominated by central government in such manner as may be prescribed10(4) the chairperson and other members of the board shall hold office for a term of five years(5) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions of service of the chairperson and members of the board, shall be such as may be prescribed15 154 (1) the central government shall establish a regional board of voluntaryorganisations in the capital of every state/union territoryregional board of voluntary organisations(2) the regional board shall consist of—(i) a chairperson who shall have experience in social services for a period ofnot less than ten years, to be appointed by the central government;20(ii) two other members who shall have experience in social services for a periodof not less than five years, to be nominated by the central government on the basis of recommendation of the state government concerned;(3) the chairperson and other members of the regional board shall hold office for a term of five years25(4) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions ofservice of the chairperson and members of the regional board, shall be such as may be prescribed305 (1) the central government shall make available to the national board and theregional boards such number of officers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient performance of their functionsemployees of national board and regional board(2) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of the officers and employees of the national board and the regional boards shall be such as may be prescribedapplication for registration356 every voluntary organisation shall, within a period of three months from the date of commencement of this act, shall apply to the regional board for registration with such particulars as may be prescribedregistration7 every regional board shall, within one month from the date of receipt of an application from a voluntary organisation, declare whether the application for registration has been accepted or rejected and in case the application has been rejected, the reasons therefor40appeal8 any voluntary organisation, whose application for registration has been rejected may appeal to the national board in such manner as maybe prescribed9 the national board shall, after hearing the views of the regional board and the voluntary organisation concerned, take a decision, which shall be binding on both the parties:decision of national board45provided that the national board may before taking a decision, consult experts in therelevant fields10 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette,constitute a voluntary organisations welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this actconstitution of a voluntary organisations welfare fund(2) the central government and the state governments shall contribute to the fundin such ratio as may be prescribed5administration of fund11 (1) the central government shall administer the fund in such manner as may beprescribed10(2) the central government shall, after due appropriation  made by parliament bylaw in this behalf make a grant to each voluntary organisation every year or at such intervals as it may deem necessary(3) while making a grant under sub-section (2), the central government shallconsult the national board and the member of parliament representing the constituency in which the head office of the organisation is situated:15provided that the national board may consult the regional board concerned in whosejurisdiction the head office of the voluntary organisation is situated before recommending to the central government for release of grantannual report of voluntary organisation12 every voluntary organisation, which is in receipt of grant from the centralgovernment, shall send an annual report to the regional board about its activities during the year and a statement of receipts and expenditure of the organisation2013 every regional board shall send the annual reports received from the voluntaryorganisations under its jurisdiction to the national board alongwith its comments on the performance of the voluntary organisationsregional boards to send annual reports to national board14 the central government may, after due consultation with the national board,reduce the amount of grant or withhold the total amount of grant payable to a voluntary organisation for such period as it may determine25withholding of grants to voluntary organisation15 if, after an enquiry, it is found that any voluntary organisation does not utilise themoney for the purpose for which it was granted or involves itself in any activities other than for which it was formed, the regional board may recommend to the national board for taking such action against the voluntary organisation as it may deem fitregional board to recommend action against voluntary organisation3016 the national board on receipt of a report from a regional board, shall take suchaction against the voluntary organisation, as it may deem fitnational board to take actionpower to make rules17 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act3540(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsvoluntary organisations play a significant role in the development of a nation they supplement the activities of the government in times of crisis in times of natural calamities, voluntary organisations come to the rescue of affected persons even before the government agencies they are doing a yeomen service to the society these voluntary organisations are engaging themselves in wide range of activities ie in providing education, health care, running homes for orphaned children, old age homes, providing free food and medicines to the needy people, etc however, many of the voluntary organisations are lacking adequate funds to undertake their activities they mainly depend upon funds received through contributions and donations which are not enough to meet their expenditure moreover, there is no mechanism at present, for registration and regulation of the affairs of voluntary organisations they do not have any statutory recognitionat present, government provides grants to many voluntary organisations but there is no check on utilisation of money granted to them and their activities as such, these organisations utilise the money for the purposes other than for which it was granted on the other hand genuine voluntary organisations are deprived of any assistance from the governmentthere is an urgent need to provide for registration and regulation of voluntary organisations for their better involvement in welfare activitiesthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;nishikant dubeyjune 29, 2017 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of a national board of voluntary organisations clause 4 provides for the setting up of regional boards in the capital of every state and union territory clause 5 makes provision for appointment of officers and staff of the boards clause 10 provides for the constitution of a voluntary organisations welfare fund to which both central and state governments will contribute clause 11 provides for making grants to voluntary organisations every year the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crore from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 17 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of details only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for recognition and regulation of voluntary organizations and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri nishikant dubey, mp)gmgipmrnd—912ls(s3)—20072017