Chandigarh, November 4
In a decision that will give autonomy to over 20,000 village cooperative societies in Punjab, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today nodded to the implementation of the Punjab Self-Supporting Cooperative Societies Act 2006.
The new Act would come into force immediately and is expected to give a major fillip to the village cooperative economy in the state. While the existing primary cooperative societies have the option of freeing themselves from government control, new societies registered under the Act would be autonomous.
The 20,000 primary cooperative societies mainly include agriculture, milk and housing cooperative societies. Agriculture and milk cooperative societies are rural societies and are handling over Rs 15,000 crore credit volume in Punjab.
Punjab is the second state in the region to come up with an Act that gives complete autonomy to cooperative societies to function. Jammu and Kashmir already has this Act in Place.
The Act would run “parallel” to the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act 1961. The village cooperative societies can shift their registration from under the old Act to the new Act. Under the new Act, the entire functioning of the cooperative society would be with the cooperative’s elected head and not with the government.
The cooperatives under the new Act would be member driven who would be free to choose their own economic activities and manage their own funds. The societies registered under this Act would get the audit of the society
done on their own.
“The Act would also allow members of one society to form another society on their won. Any 10 persons in a village can now form a cooperative society and run it independently,” said Dr BC Gupta, principal secretary, cooperatives department and the author of the Act.
The Act also makes it obligatory for the government to register these societies. In case the registration request is not heeded to for six months, the society would be deemed to have been registered.
The government would have no control over the society in terms of its election process nor will it have a power to appoint an administrator in case of any dispute.
Dr Gupta drafted the Act in 2002 following which it took eight years before it could see the light of the day today.
“The Act is significant and has a major bearing on the working of the primary cooperative societies and at a larger level village economies. Deliberations on the Act have been happening for years Conceptually speaking the spirit of the cooperative movement entails that cooperative societies manage their own affairs. The Act would provide encouragement to formation of self help groups,” added Dr Gupta.
The Act was passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 2006 and was sent for the president’s assent following a suggestion of the legal remembrancer. The president’s assent was received in 2008 following which the act was being deliberated upon before it got the nod from the CM.
