Considering there are elections due in some of the multi state cooperative societies, the union Ministry of Cooperation has constituted an interim cooperative election authority under the chairmanship of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
The members of the authority included, Director (CET), Ministry of Cooperation, Executive Director (LINAC), NCDC-Member (Women). The order in this connection was released recently by the Ministry of Cooperative, which is signed by Assistant Commissioner (Cooperation).
All the officers of cooperative election authority will discharge the functions of CEA as per the MSCS Act and Rules in addition to their existing work without any additional remuneration.
The order copy is with the Indian Cooperative. It reads, “The Multi State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023 has been notified vide gazette notification dated 03.08.2023 and the MSCS Amendment Rules, 2023 have been notified vide gazette notification dated 04.08.2023”.
“As per section 45(1) of the MSCS (Amendment) Act, 2023, the Central Government shall, by notification, establish an Authority to be known as the Co-operative Election Authority (CEA) which shall consist of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and Members not exceeding three to be appointed by the Central Government on the recommendation of the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee for the same has already been constituted and the process of selection is underway”, it further reads.
According to the order, in the meantime, elections of some of the Multi State Cooperative Societies have become due. Therefore, the Co-operative Election Authority is constituted in the interim until further orders. This is issued with the approval of the competent authority.
It bears recall that the Ministry of Cooperation issued a vacancy circular for the appointment of Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and 3 Members (Statutory Posts) of Cooperative Election Authority (CEA) in August 2023 but the process is underway.
The fairness of co-op elections has been a topic of debates for a long time. Many critics point out that the people who are in power manage to come back year after year through obliging the Returning Officer whom they choose themselves.
Earlier the 97th CAA and now the Multi State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023 have provisions of setting up an Election Authority for neutral and fair conduct of co-operative elections. The current Election Authority is an interim one as the process of setting up a regular body is underway.
Readers may find it interesting to know that though the co-op movement is pretty weak in the state of Bihar, it was one of the few states which came up with the idea of Election Authority even before the idea could first be discussed in the 97th Constitutional Amendment.