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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.