PremiumThe Union Cabinet approved a series of amendments to the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 on Wednesday.
The amendments, said Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, were intended to curb mismanagement at these cooperative societies and bring in transparency and timely elections. Thakur was speaking at a press briefing in New Delhi.
The Cabinet has approved the creation of an Election Authority responsible for conducting timely elections for the cooperative societies. Minister Thakur argued that this move was intended to reduce delays in holding elections. Further, only active members of cooperative societies will be eligible to contest elections.
Another set of reforms seek to improve the management of MSCSs. The composition of their boards has been changed: two seats will be reserved for women while one seat will be researched for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Experts will also be inducted into boards. New financial norms are also being introduced to increase transparency. Audits of certain cooperative societies will now be carried out by auditors from the panel of the Central Registrar.
A Cooperative Ombudsman will also be inducted to manage the grievances of members. Information Officers will also be inducted to improve the flow of information to members. MSCSs formed by fraud and misrepresentation can now be wound up and boards can also be suspended by the government.
Finally, Minister Thakur also added that the banking functions of multi-state cooperative societies will now be regulated under the Banking Regulation Act. This, he argued, would protect depositors.