Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel has promulgated the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 in order to allow the elected Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly to become Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of cooperatives.
The ordinance amends the Madhya Pradesh Cooperative Societies Act, 1960.
The notification related to the Ordinance reads “An Ordinance further to amend the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. Whereas, the State Legislature is not in session and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action; Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 213 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Madhya Pradesh is pleased to promulgate the following Ordinance”, it said.
It further reads, “This Ordinance may be called the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. It shall come into force from the date of its publication in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette. During the period of operation of this Ordinance, the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (No. 17 of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in Sections 3 to 6.
In section 48-A of the principal Act, in sub-section (4), (i) in clause (a), the words “elected as a Member of Parliament or Member of Legislative Assembly or” shall be omitted. (ii) clause (b), shall be omitted”, according to the ordinance.
There will be three such members, who will be eligible to be elected as members of the Board of Directors. Apart from this, a representative of the Registrar, Co-operative and Finance Department will also be on the committee.
The objective behind amending the act and bringing ordinance in this regard is to make dissident legislators as administrators in district central cooperative banks. In short, the BJP govt intends adjusting those MLAs, who could not be made ministers.
Readers would recall that it was the BJP government led by Shivraj that had earlier disallowed MPs and MLAs from becoming Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of cooperatives and a bill to this effect had been passed by the state assembly.
But the changing political scenario has forced the CM to eat his words, said one of his associates. “Several MLAs want to become ministers especially those who have left congress and joined BJP. In this situation it is difficult for Shivraj to make everyone happy so they are planning to amend the cooperative act in order to accommodate dissident legislators in cooperatives”, he added.
There are 38 DCCBs and after amending the act the Shivraj government will settle MPs and MLAs as administrators in these banks.
Earlier, as soon as BJP took over the charge in Madhya Pradesh it had suspended all the administrators appointed by the congress government in District Central Cooperative Banks of the state.