REGULATORY-UPLOAD CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION

Multi State Co-Operative Societies ACT, 2002

An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to co-operative societies, with objects not confined to one State and serving the interests of members in more than one State, to facilitate the voluntary formation and democratic functioning of co-operatives as people's institutions based on self-help and mutual aid and to enable them to promote their economic and social betterment and to provide functional autonomy , was being felt necessary by the various co-operative societies, and federation of various co-operative societies as well as by the Government. In order to achieve the objective . The Multi-State Co-operative Societies Bill was introduced in the Parliament. The bill having been passed by both the Houses of Parliament received the assent of the President on 3rd July 2002 and it came on the Statute Book as The Multi State Co-operative Societies ACT 2002 (39 of 2002).

Multi State Co-operative Societies are formed for a particular purpose at the time of inception as mentioned in their respective bye laws. Some of the variants of the MSCs are Credit, Agro, Housing, Co-operative Banks, Marketing, Tourism, Consumer, Fisheries, Multi purpose, Diary etc. Government of India has come forward to extend more support to the Societies through suitable legislations and amendments. In short, the main features of the amendment bill are as follows;

• The Central Government approved the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
• The aim of the recently approved legislation is to rationalize the role of multi-state co-operative societies and increase their members’ participation. This is done to increase public’s faith in these institutions.
• In order to realize this goal, the legislation seeks to boost transparency and accountability and improve governance in multi-state co-operative societies.
• To improve the governance of these co-operative societies, the amendment Bill proposes the establishment of Co-operative Election Authority, Co-operative Information Officer, and Co-operative Ombudsman.
• The Co-operative Election Authority will ensure that elections in co-operative societies are conducted in a fair, free and timely manner. In order to bring electoral discipline, the amendment Bill proposes barring offenders for three years.
• The Co-operative Ombudsman will provide mechanism for the redressal of grievances of members in an organized manner.
• The Co-operative Information Officer will increase transparency by providing access to information to the members of co-operatives in a timely manner.
• In order to boost ease of doing business in the sector, the legislation proposes to shorten the registration period. It also allows applicants to seek extra time of 2 months to rectify mistakes. It also digitizes the submission and issuance of documents.
• The bill proposes the inclusion of co-opted directors with experience in the field of banking, management, co-operative management and finance in the board of the multi-state co-operative societies.
• To boost funding for multi-state co-operative societies, the bill has provisions for the issuance of non-voting shares.
• The Rehabilitation, Reconstruction & Development Fund will be set up to revitalize struggling co-operative societies.
• The bill seeks to increase accountability of multi-state co-operatives by improving the auditing mechanism.

Considering this fact, Govt. of India has conducted studies and discussions in this regard and decided to make suitable amendments in the M S C S bill. Through the amendment, the Govt. envisages to establish strong and healthy co-operative institutions by increasing efficiency, flexibility, credibility, people’s participation, social betterment and support with sustainable development.