(1) No person.other than a cooperative society registered under this Act shall, without the permission of the State Government, function, trade or carry on business under any name or title of which the word" cooperative" or its equivalent in any Indian language forms part.
412 THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012
(2) Every person who is a member of a cooperative society formed in contravention of section4 and section6 of this Act and every person contravening the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to five hundred rupees and in the case of a continuing offence with further fine of two hundred rupees for each month on which the offence is continued after conviction thereof.
OFFENCE 91. (1) A person who makes or assists in making a report, return, notice or other documents required under this Act to be published or sent to the Registrar or to any other person that --
(a) contains an untrue statement of a material; or
(b) omits to state a material fact required in the report or makes a statement contained in the report misleading in the light of the circumstances in which it was made;
shall be guilty of an offence and shall on summary conviction, be punishable - ''* r '
(a) in case of an individual, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ninety days or with fine which may extend to rupees ten thousand or both;
(b) in the case of juristic person other than an individual, with a fine which may extend to rupees ten thousand.
(2) (a) If the person committing an offence under sub-section(l) is a cooperative society which is a body corporate, the cooperative society as well as every person in charge of and responsible to the cooperative society for the conduct of its business at the time of commission of the offence shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(b) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (a) where an offence has been committed by a cooperative society, and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent of and connivance of or that the commission of the offence is attributable to any neglect on the part of any Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer of the cooperative society, such Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ninety days or with fine of one thousand rupees or with both.
(3) No person shall be guilty of an offence under sub-section (1) or sub section (2) where the untrue statement or omission --
(a) was not known to him and
(b) after exercising reasonable diligence fact could not have been known to him.
(4) Every person who --
(a) without reasonable cause, contravenes a provision of this Act for which no penalty is otherwise provided, or THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 413
(b) fails to file or furnish return or to give any notice or to send any document required by the provisions of this Act -- shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.
(5) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act the Court may, in addition to any punishment imposed, order the person to comply with the provisions of this Act for the contravention of which he has been convicted.
(6) No prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be commenced after five years from the date when the subject matter of the complaint arose.
(7) No civil remedy for an act or omission under this Act is suspended or affected by reason that the act or omission is an offence under this Act.
REFERENCE OF DISPUTE SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTE
CHAPTER VIII SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
92. Any dispute touching the business of a registered society, other than a dispute regarding disciplinary action taken by a society against an employee of the society, or of the liquidator of a society shall be referred to the Registrar for decision if the parties thereto are among the following
(a) the society, its past or present controlling or managing body any past or present officer, agent or employee or the liquidator of the society, or
(b) member, past member or persons claiming through a member, past member or deceased member of the society, or
(c) a surety of a member, a past member or deceased member of a society, or
(d) any other registered society or the liquidator of the society,
(e) a registered society and a financing bank.