SAHAKARSUTRA

 देशातील सहकारी संस्थांच्या (Cooperative Society) प्रभावी व्यवस्थापनासंबंधीच्या मुद्द्यांना हाताळणाऱ्या राज्यघटनेतील (Rajyaghatana) ९७ व्या दुरुस्तीवर सर्वोच्च न्यायालयाने (Supreme Court)  दोन विरुद्ध एक अशा बहुमताने शिक्कामोर्तब करतानाच या संस्थांची स्थापना आणि त्यांच्या कार्यप्रणालीशी संबंधित काही भाग मात्र कायमचा वगळण्याचा निर्णय घेतला आहे.  सहकारी संस्थांबाबत कायदे तयार करण्याच्या राज्यांच्या अधिकारांवर यामुळेच बंधने आली होती, आता ही बंधने दूर होऊन राज्यांचे अधिकार अबाधित राहतील.  (Excluded Parts of the 97th Amendment to the Constitution) न्या. आर. एफ. नरिमन, न्या. के. एम.जोसेफ आणि न्या. बी. आर.गवई यांच्या खंडपीठासमोर या प्रकरणी सुनावणी पार पडली. सहकारी संस्थांशी संबंधित राज्यघटनेतील ‘नऊ (ब)’ हा भाग आम्ही वगळत आहोत पण त्याचबरोबर घटनादुरुस्तीला संरक्षण दिले असल्याचे न्यायालयाने स्पष्ट केले. न्या. नरिमन म्हणाले की, ‘न्या. जोसेफ यांनी अंशतः असहमती व्यक्त करणारा निकाल दिला असून त्यांनी ९७ वी घटनादुरुस्तीच पूर्णपणे रद्दबातल ठरविली आहे.’ सर्वोच्च न्यायालयाने ९७ व्या घट...

 स्वयं-पुनर्विकास या संकल्पनेविषयी उहापोह करणारा लेख.. मुंबई शहर-उपनगरांमध्ये आणि ठाणे परिसरात गेली काही वर्षे पुनर्वकिास (Re-Development) प्रकल्पांचे पेव फुटले आहे. स्वयं-पुनर्वकिासाबाबत लोकांमध्ये जागृती करायचे प्रयत्न होत आहेत. बाजूने व विरुद्ध अशी अनेक मते व वादविवाद घडत आहेत. स्वयं-पुनर्वकिासाचे फायदे व तोटे याबाबत वस्तुस्थिती मांडण्याचा हा एक प्रयत्न.. स्वयं-पुनर्वकिासाचा सर्वात मोठा फायदा हा की, सभासदांचा त्यांच्या प्रकल्पावर, प्रॉपर्टी/जमिनीवर पूर्ण अंकुश राहतो. पुनर्वकिासामध्ये काम एखाद्या विकासकाकडून केले जायचे असते तेव्हा कडऊ/उउ नंतर सभासदांना आपल्या सदनिका व आवार खाली करून संपूर्ण आवार/इमारतीचा ताबा पॉवर ऑफ अ‍ॅटर्नीच्या माध्यमातून का होईना, पण विकासकाला द्यावाच लागतो. विकासक ताबा घेवून त्वरेने इमारत पाडून संपूर्ण आवाराला बाहेरून पत्रे लावतो. विकासकाचे सुरक्षारक्षक/बाउन्सर्स/धिप्पाड बॉडीगार्डस् आवाराचा व मुख्य प्रवेशद्वाराचा ताबा घेतात. अशा प्रकारे त्या विकासकाचा अंकुश प्रकल्प व आवारावर स्थापित होतो. मात्र स्वयं-पुनर्वकिासामध्ये संस्थेच्या आवारावर संस्थेचा/सभासदांचा ताबा...

  July 9, 2021 Respected Sir, Congratulations on being appointed as the country's first Minister of Cooperation. Kudos to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Jo's vision in accepting a long standing request for this ministry. It will definitely lead to 'Sahakar se Samriddhi' for all. As you take up the task of running this Ministry, we at  Sahakarsutra  would like to forward a few suggestions. 1. There were 1.48 lakh credit societies in India in 2009-10, up from 1.43 lakh in 2000-01, with a total membership of 18.12 crore. The number of non-credit societies went up from 4.08 lakh in 2000-01 to 4.58 lakh in 2009-10 with 6.82 crore members. The latest figures are not available. 2. The various kinds of cooperatives in India include consumers’ cooperative societies, which seek to protect the interest of general consumers by making goods available at reasonable rates. These cooperatives, of which Kendriya Bhandar, Apna Bazar and Sahakari Bhandar, are prominent examples. 3. Then ...

The government announced the formation of a separate Union Ministry of Cooperation, a subject that till date was looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture. The Central Government for realizing the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ (Prosperity through Cooperation) and to give a new push to the cooperative movement. The Government has signalled its deep commitment to community based developmental partnership. It also fulfils the budget announcement made by the finance minister in 2021. What is the cooperative movement? By definition, cooperatives are organisations formed at the grassroots level by people to harness the power of collective bargaining towards a common goal. In agriculture, cooperative dairies, sugar mills, spinning mills etc are formed with the pooled resources of farmers who wish to process their produce. The country has 1,94,195 cooperative dairy societies and 330 cooperative sugar mill operations. In 2019-20, dairy cooperatives had procured 4.80 crore litres of milk fro...

  Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) upheld a 2013 judgment of the Gujarat High Court and struck down certain provisions of the Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011. It gave a major boost for federalism as the 97th Amendment shrank the exclusive authority of States over its co-operative societies, a sector considered as a massive contributor to the economy. Co-operatives According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. There are many types of cooperatives such as Consumer Cooperative Society, Producer Cooperative Society, Credit Cooperative Society, Housing Cooperative Society and Marketing Cooperative Society. The United Nations General Assembly had declared the year 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives. India is an agricultural country and laid the fou...

  Since there were the news about how to utilize the Sinking Fund by the co-operative housing societies, in the newspapers, and lot of societies were asking about what is the procedure to be followed for the utilizing of sinking fund by the housing societies, following is the procedure. As per approved Model Byelaw No. 13(c), of the society, there is a provision about creation of Sinking Fund, and according to the provision made under Model Byelaw No. 14(c) the procedure is given about utilization of Sinking Fund as “on the resolution passed at the meeting of the General Body of the Society, the Sinking Fund may be used by the society for reconstruction of its building/buildings or for carrying out such structural additions or alterations to the building/buildings, as in the opinion of the Society’s Architect, would be necessary to strengthen it/them or for carrying out such heavy repairs as may be certified by the Architect and on approval of the General Body meeting of the Societ...

Applicability of GST on Housing Societies Before we deal with the Impact of GST on Housing Societies, let’s examine as to  whether the Societies are covered under GST or not? The  Central Goods And Services Tax Act (CGST), 2017  is applicable to the dealer-person who is rendering the service or supplying the goods in its regular course of business activity. Section 2(84) of the above act defines “Person” as follow:- “person”  includes — an individual; a Hindu Undivided Family; a company; a firm; a Limited Liability Partnership; an association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, in India or outside India; any corporation established by or under any Central Act, State Act or Provincial Act or a Government company as defined in clause (45) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013; anybody corporate incorporated by or under the laws of a country outside India; a co-operative society registered under any law relating to co-operative societies;...

 In September 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refused permission to Maharashtra’s state and district central co-operative banks (DCCBs) to finance self-redevelopment of co-operative housing societies, stating that such projects would fall under the category of ‘commercial real estate,’ and hence, outside the banks’ primary purview of lending for activities related to agriculture and rural development. For the Maharashtra government, which was banking on support from the state’s co-operative banking ecosystem, this is as a huge blow to a scheme it had presented late last year as the solution to the state’s, and more specifically, Mumbai’s housing crisis. Meanwhile, with over Rs. 1,350 crores sanctioned and another Rs. 17 crores disbursed in loans for such projects, RBI’s decision leaves the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank (MDCCB) and several housing societies with an uncertain way ahead. Builder-led redevelopment While Mumbai grew spectacularly as an urban centre in t...

On 13th September 2019, the Maharashtra State issued a Government Resolution (GR) outlining rules for societies undertaking self-redevelopment.  The GR states that any building over 30 years old can initiate the process of self-redevelopment. In a bid to help housing societies carry out self-redevelopment of their old buildings, the Maharashtra state government is offering various incentives and concessions. Through self-redevelopment, residents can come together to undertake the redevelopment of building instead of the appointing builder to do the needful.  Society appoints a contractor, project management consultant (pmc) and share the benefits (like bigger homes) which would have otherwise been profited by the builder by selling additional sale area. This encouraging move from Government of Maharashtra will bring about simplicity in the redevelopment process and will induce confidence among residents as they can plan for their societies. The authorities curre...

  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has included cooperative housing societies in the list of allowed borrowers for housing finance. The move will facilitate the redevelopment of co-operative housing societies in Mumbai. With intent to provide a thrust to  self-development of cooperative housing societies  in Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has included them in the list of allowed borrowers for housing finance loan. The decision has come as a breather for housing societies who were earlier permitted to obtain loan only from the Mumbai District Co-operative Bank. As per a statement issued by RBI, housing finance shall mean loan granted to individuals, group of individuals, and co-operative societies for the purchase, construction, reconstruction, renovation, or repairs of a residential structure. This is the first time when co-operative societies have been permitted to seek funds from Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).

  Working of the Managing Committee It is the responsibility of the Managing Committee to hold election before expiry of tenure as per provision in the sanctioned by laws (bye- law No. 116) and to inform the same to the Registrar of societies. For the availability of the Managing Committee members, the members of the managing committee should be those who are residing in the societies flat as far as possible. It is necessary after conducting election, the election of the office bearers should be made by the Election officer (bye-law No. 126) After election of the office bearers, the joint meeting of the new managing committee and previous managing committee will be held. In this meeting by preparing list of the societies record, it will be handed over to the new office bearers accordingly and to take detailed entries of it in the minutes of the management committee (bye- law No. 125) The Managing Committee have to work as per the provision in bye- law No. 139 and directives of the ...