The apex body of cooperatives in the country, NCUI, held its Board meeting on Wednesday, where it was decided to convene the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 20th September. The meeting also finalized the contours of proposed amendments to the bye-laws.
The meeting was presided over by NCUI President Dileep Sanghani and attended by prominent leaders including Dr. Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, H.K. Patil, Bijender Singh, Mudit Verma, among others. Some leaders, such as the former BISCOMAUN Chairman, currently busy with the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, attended the Governing Council meeting virtually.
The major agenda items included the finalization of the AGM date and fine-tuning NCUI’s bye-laws to align them with the recent amendments in the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act.
The Governing Council approved the bye-law amendments, which, among other things, aim to reorganize the constituencies that elect NCUI’s Governing Council members. The constituencies have now been divided into four clear categories, removing the confusion that existed earlier.
Speaking to Indian Cooperative, NCUI President Sanghani said that he, along with CE Sudhir Mahajan, had met the Cooperative Election Authority earlier to work out relevant amendments.
“We heard them, they heard us, and a middle ground was found,” said Sanghani, who left soon after the meeting for Gandhinagar. “We are hosting the GUJCOMASOL AGM on the 29th, where the CM will be the Chief Guest,” he added.
Detailing the proposal on bye-law amendments, Sanghani said the four categories would be: state cooperative unions, national federations, multi-state cooperative societies, and others.
The NCUI Governing Council has 20 members. Under the amended structure, seven members will be elected from state cooperative unions and six from national cooperative federations. These include state cooperative banks, state marketing federations, state dairy federations, state housing federations, and others.
Two seats have been reserved for multi-state cooperative societies. While one member will be elected from North and North-Eastern India, the second will come from Maharashtra and the southern states. The voter list will consist of all multi-state cooperatives across India. In addition, there will be one government nominee. Currently, Dr. Uday Joshi, President of Sahakar Bharati, is the government’s nominee on the board.
The NCUI Governing Council also usually co-opts at least two veteran cooperators as members.
Its Cooperative Election Authority, not chief election authority