After the process of setting up Election Authority was put in motion, the Union Ministry of Cooperation has begun to nudge co-op bodies to appoint a Cooperative Information Officer in their respective co-op organizations.
A top ministry source said the department is eager to implement rules of the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Amendment Act, 2023, without any delay.
In its latest Circular the Ministry has asked Multi State Cooperative Societies to appoint the Cooperative Information Officer as per the amended MSCS act.
The circular was released last Monday with the title, “Appointment of Co-operative Information Officer as per the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023-reg”.
It reads, “The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) (Amendment) Act, 2023 has been notified vide gazette notification dated 03.08.2023 and MSCS Amendment Rules, 2023 have been notified vide gazette notification dated 04.08.2023”.
“As per section 106 of MSCS (Amendment) Act, 2023, every multi-State co-operative society shall appoint a Co-operative Information Officer to provide information relating to affairs and management of the society to the members of the society and such information shall be confined to the information falling under the disclosure norms specified by the society in its bye- laws”, it further reads.
According to the circular, “You are, therefore, requested to provide the details of designated Cooperative Information Officer(s) for your society in the CRCS portal (https://crcs.gov.in/) while filing annual returns. User ID and password for login of the existing MSCSS in the portal have already been sent to their registered email id”, it concluded.
A few days later the MoC released a vacancy circular for the appointment of Chairperson, Vice-Chairman and three members of Cooperative Election Authority.
Earlier, the circular was released related to the Cooperative Education Fund, the Cooperative Rehabilitation Fund and others.