In a bid to streamline the functioning of Cooperative Societies, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday gave approval to amend the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961.
Notably, the said Act came into existence through Punjab Act No. 25 of 1961, and over past several years some inadequacies have come to light, which have created practical difficulties for the field offices in the State. Further, the Department of Cooperation has also received certain suggestions/directions from the Punjab Government and RBI to make modifications through amendment of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961. In order to address these inadequacies/shortcomings and also comply with the directions of the State Government and RBI, various amendments to the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act have been made.
Divulging the salient features of amendments, an official spokesperson said that Section 7(1) has been inserted as an enabling provision in the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 to charge registration fees along with the application for registration. Under Section 26C, a restriction has been put on the membership of an insured bank imposed as a consequent upon the order of RBI under Section 70-A. Likewise, Section 6 restricts individual shareholding of a member in case of Urban Co-operative Bank (UCB), to maximum 5% of the share capital. Sections 3(5) and 69 have been amended to provide more clarity about effective disposal of revision petitions. Similarly, Section 22(1) has been amended to give more time to the office bearers for effecting recovery of loans and Section 55 to provide a limitation period for referring arbitration disputes to the Registrar.
