Caving into the Congress Party’s pressure in Parliament, the government has agreed to refer the controversial Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill to a standing committee for scrutiny, media reports say.
It is being reported that this assurance was given by Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah to the Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge when the latter met the former in his Parliamentary office. Kharge sought the Bill to be referred to a standing committee for wider consultations.
The Ministry sources, however, deny the same. “It is too early to say that the Bill will go to the Standing Committee, said an official on condition of anonymity.” There are more than 60 tweaks to the MSCS 2002 bill and only when the Opposition convinces that they are not worth it, that it could be considered for a reference to the Parliamentary Panel, he added.
“To tell you the truth we cannot say whether it will be sent for vetting or not at this stage. Discussions about the Bill are yet to happen and if in these debates, Opposition comes with some cogent argument on at least on 4-5 points, could the govt think of sending the Bill to the Panel”, he underlined.
The official, however, added that the Ministry is open to suggestions and India being a thriving democracy, the Ministry looks forward to constructive criticism from the Opposition on the Bill. “The course of the Bill will be clear only after the discussion in the House. After all, nobody can deny that the govt is well within its right to introduce amendments”, he added.
Earlier, in the House several Opposition MPs demanded that the Bill be sent to a Standing Committee soon after MoS B L Verma introduced the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
NK Premachandran, RSP leader, raised a technical issue and said it is against the spirit of the definition of cooperative societies as enshrined in the Constitution. Manish Tiwari also opposed the Bill, calling it anti-cooperative in true sense.
Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the Bill aims to curb the power of state even when co-operative is a state subject. He also felt that the bill would empower the Central govt so much that the autonomy of co-ops would erode. DMK leader R Baalu spoke opposing the Bill.
The govt, however, claims that the bill seeks to strengthen governance, enhancing transparency, increasing accountability, and reforming electoral processes, etc. in the multi-state cooperative societies.
Co-operators, by and large, have welcomed the Bill disagreeing only on a few points, one of which is shifting the custody of the Co-op Education Fund from NCUI to the govt. The bill talks of Electoral Reforms and Section 45 of the Act to establish an Authority to be known as the “Co-operative Election Authority” which shall consist of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and members not exceeding three to be appointed by the Central Government.
It also prescribes clear-cut grounds for disqualification from being a member of the Board of MSCS, Quorum prescribed for board meetings, Criteria for appointment of CEO, Board to constitute Committees for prevention of sexual harassment and for Audit and Ethics, Provisions for Investment of funds.
The Bill also talks of appointment of Co-operative Ombudsman for MSCS, total transparency in recruitment, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund, Provision of non-voting shares to allow MSCS to raise capital, Strengthening of Monitoring Mechanism, procedure of winding up of MSCS, among others.
The Bill also states that the Government shareholding cannot be redeemed without prior approval of Government and the Redemption would be on face / book value of shares.