Lok Sabha passes Multi-State Cooperative Societies Amendment Bill

Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to strengthen cooperatives by making their functioning more transparent, introducing a system of regular elections and prohibiting the appointment of related persons. Piloting the bill, Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said the provisions in the bill will initiate a new era for the sector, which has been ignored by the previous governments. The bill was later approved by Lok Sabha by voice vote amid din after a short discussion in which only three members participated. The bill seeks to establish ‘Cooperative Election Authority’ with a view to introduce electoral reforms in the cooperative sector. It will consist of a chairperson, vice-chairperson and members not exceeding three to be appointed by the central government. Recalling the initiatives taken by the government to promote the secor, Shah said that a national policy on cooperatives would be announced by Diwali (November 12), which will lay out the blue print for the sector for the next 25 years. Last month, a 49-member committee, headed by former minister Suresh Prabhu, submitted the draft new national cooperation policy along with key recommendations, to Shah. The current policy on cooperation was formulated in 2002 and a need was felt to draft a new national policy to deal with the changed economic scenario. Therefore, a committee was formed on September 2, 2022, to draft a new policy. The minister also said that a national cooperative database is being created to map cooperative societies and already 95 per cent of the work has been completed. The move would help in better implementation of the proposed national policy on cooperatives. As per the data published by the NCUI, there are about 8.6 lakh cooperatives in the country, out of which active Primary Agricultural Cooperatives (PACs) are around 63,000. In January, the government had decided to establish three new multi-state cooperative societies to promote organic products, seeds and exports. Shah said the government has come out with model bye-laws for cooperative societies which have been adopted by all states with the exception of West Bengal and Kerala. The government, he said, has strengthened the PACs by permitting them to undertake activities like distribution of LPG cylinders and operating Jan Aushadhi Kendras. As per the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, a new clause has been inserted to set up Cooperative Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund for revival of sick multi-state cooperative societies. The bill also provides for concurrent audits for multi-state cooperative societies, a mechanism for redressal of complaints, appointment of one or more cooperative ombudsmen and cooperative information officers. Further, it provides for an increase in monetary penalties that will be imposed on these societies in case of contravention of the provisions. Another provision is for filing of applications, documents, returns, statements, statement of accounts in electronic form. After the passage of the bill, the House was adjourned for the day.