With a view to shoring up its resources for development , Maharashtra government has asked all cooperative societies to contribute 20% of their annual profit to “public purposes and strengthening smaller societies” reports Hindu.
However, cooperative housing societies exempted from the tax will be levied only on commercial and non-commercial societies governed by the State Cooperatives Act, 1960. The societies may contribute the amount or spend it on their own on social causes.
The money will be spent on fields such as environment, health, education, agriculture, sports and women’s empowerment.
The money will not be spent on religious purposes, promotion of leaders of religious sects and on promotion of electoral activities.
Cooperative officials said, “The cooperative societies are free to contribute their profit to causes such as construction of canals, toilets and local government offices; supporting government projects like Jal Yukta Shivar; planting trees; maintaining sports complexes and stadiums; providing skill training to women and supporting women’s groups.”
The government has sought contribution from cooperative societies under Section 69 of the Maharashtra Cooperatives Act, 1960, which makes it binding on profitable cooperatives to not only support weak cooperatives but also contribute towards development of society.