Answering a host of issues on cooperatives in the Parliament, Union Cooperation Minister answered queries on PACS, multi state co-op societies, office of Central Registrar and vowed to recast PACS in new avatar.
“A bill to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 2002 has also been introduced in the Parliament, which will strengthen the monitoring of multi-State cooperative societies. Regarding directives to States, the State Registrar of Cooperative societies function as per their respective Act and Rules”, Shah’s reply reads.
It further added, “Multi-State Co-operative Societies registered under the provisions of the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 function as autonomous cooperative organizations accountable to their members.”
Shah said “Whenever, complaints are received against any of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies for violation of MSCS Act or Rules or non-repayment of deposits on maturity, action is taken as per the provisions of MSCS Act, 2002 and Rules made there under. The Central Registrar has already initiated the process of liquidation of 45 multi-State Credit Cooperative Societies”.
The powers of Central Registrar to conduct inspections of Multi-State Co-operative Societies under Section 108 and to appoint arbitrator under Section 84 of the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 have been delegated to Registrar of Cooperative Societies of all States/ UTs, who act on behalf of the Central Registrar.
On receipt of inspection report from the State Registrar of cooperative societies, action is taken by the Central Registrar as per the provisions of the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 and Rules made there under”, he underlined.
“In case of complaints against societies registered at the State level under the respective State Cooperative Societies Act, action is to be taken by the State Registrar concerned as per the respective Act/ Rules”, his reply concluded.
He also said that additional 64 posts have been created to strengthen the office of the Central Registrar. The latter is also being computerized to strengthen the monitoring of multi-State cooperative societies, said Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah while replying to a query raised by Rajya Sabha member Ms Phulo Devi Netam.
On PACS, Shah said “PACS constitute the lowest tier of the short-term cooperative credit structure in the country at panchayat/ village level. They serve as a crucial link in sustaining the rural economy of the country by providing short-term and medium-term credit and other input facilities such as fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, etc. to farmers.
There are nearly 95,000 PACS in the country, with a member base of around 13 crores. These are refinanced by NABARD through 351 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and 34 State Cooperative Banks (StCBs). The StCBs and DCCBs together provide nearly Rs 5 lakh crore rural credit annually, out of which Rs 1.3 lakh crore is refinanced by NABARD.”
In order to improve transparency, increase efficiency, ensure speedy disbursal of loans, have seamless accounting with DCCBs and StCBs and reduce imbalances in payments, a project for Computerization of 63,000 functional PACS in three years with a total financial outlay of Rs 2,516 Crore has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs vide its decision dated 29th June, 2022.
This project entails bringing all the functional PACS onto an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based common software, linking them with NABARD through StCBs and DCCBs. Implementation of Common Accounting System (CAS) and Management Information System (MIS) would enable PACS to carry out their operations online and obtain refinance/ loans from NABARD through DCCBs and StCBs.
Presently, the economic activities undertaken by PACS are restricted by their respective byelaws, which in most cases, have become outdated and need to be revised. In order to strengthen the PACS and diversify their business activities to make them vibrant economic entities at Panchayat level, model byelaws of PACS have been prepared by the Ministry after consultation with all the States/ Union Territories, Ministries/ Departments concerned in Government of India, NABARD, NAFSCOB, State Cooperative Banks, District Cooperative Banks, etc.
These Model byelaws of PACS will enable them to undertake more than 25 business activities which, inter alia, include dairy, fishery, floriculture, setting up of godowns, procurement of foodgrains, fertilizers, seeds, LPG/CNG/Petrol/Diesel distributorship, short-term & long-term credit, custom hiring centers, common service centers, Fair Price Shops (FPS), community irrigation, Business Correspondent activities, Common Service Centre, etc.
This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.