Cabinet approves multi-state cooperative societies (amendment) bill 2022, to bring transparency in doing business

The union cabinet approves the multi-state cooperative societies (amendment) act on October 12, 2022. The decision was made to improve the ease of doing business, increase financial discipline, and practice raising funds in multi-state cooperative societies.

The amendment bill movement was taken to make the governance of multi-State Cooperative societies more transparent, accountable, and democratic.

Union Cabinet has approved the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which seeks to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002. It will incorporate the provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment: Union Minister Anurag Thakur pic.twitter.com/ZgqI1UBcNC

— ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

Multi-State cooperative societies (amendment) bill: Key details

1. The bill, which tends to amend the multi-state cooperative societies act, of 2002, will enhance governance and reform the electoral process.
2. It’ll also strengthen the monitoring mechanism and improve the composition of the Board and will boost transparency and accountability. 
3. The bill will involve the provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment. The multi-state cooperative societies have been included with provisions relating to representing women and scheduled caste and scheduled tribe members on the board to promote equity and encourage inclusiveness. 
4. Provisions have been included for bringing in co-opted directors with banking, cooperative, and management experience to promote professional development.
5. A provision for the applicant to get an additional two month time for rectification of errors have also been introduced in the amendments to increase the ease of doing business by decreasing the period of registration.
6. The amendment also provides for electronic submission and issuance of documents thus giving a comprehensive digital ecosystem for multi-state co-operative societies.
7. The Bill also seeks to improve the composition of the board and ensure financial discipline, besides the approval for raising funds in multi-state cooperative societies.

Cooperative Election Authority: Significance

1. The provisions for setting up of Cooperative Election Authority, Cooperative Information Officer, and Cooperative Ombudsman have also been introduced in the Bill. 
2. The election authority will be in charge of conducting free, fair, and timely elections.
3. The elections will help in decreasing incidents of malpractice and complaints and the provision to preclude electrical offenders for three years will promote more electoral discipline.
4. Cooperative Information Officer will encourage transparency by providing members with timely access to information.
5. Cooperative Ombudsman will enable a mechanism for the redressal of member grievances in an organized manner. 

Background

India has more than 1,500 multi-state co-operative societies working as an essential tool to promote the economic and social betterment of their members based on the principles of self-help and mutual aid.