“Elections 41. (1) The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of all election to a Co operative Society shall vest THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRA ORDINARY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013 383 in the Registrar. It shall be the duty of the Registrar to prepare the voters list with eligible members to arrange for holding election of Directors, delegates, or representatives to the delegate general body and representative of the society, if fallen vacant.
(2) The election of Directors to a Board shall be conducted before the expiry of the term of the Board so as to ensure that the newly elected members of the Board assume office immediately on the expiry of the office of members of the out-going Board.
(3) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of India and the provisions of this Act, the State Government may make rules to provide for the procedure and guidelines for the conduct of elections to the Co-operative Societies.
(4) Where a Board fails to arrange for holding election of the Directors or delegates, as the case may be, before the expiry of the term of their office in accordance with the Act and bye-laws, all Directors shall cease to be Directors on the expiry of the period as specified in section 42 (1).
(5) The election of Directors and delegates shall take place at the General Meeting called for the purpose.
(6) Where a Board fails to arrange for holding election before the expiry of the term of the Board or delegates or where there are no Directors remaining on the Board, the Registrar shall convene a General Meeting by appointing an Officer of the Co-operative Department for Constitution of the Board within ninety days from the date of such appointment and the officer so appointed shall perform all functions of the Board during the said period of ninety days at the cost of the Society.
(7) The Directors shall hold office for the period for which they were elected and the newly elected Directors shall assume office on the date of expiry of the said period.
(8) The Directors shall not be eligible for re-election, if so specified in the bye-laws.
(9) Where there are vacancies in the office of the Directors and where there are no sufficient number of Directors to constitute a quorum for Board meeting, the Board may co-opt maximum three eligible members for constituting quorum or arrange for holding election to fill up the vacancies for the un-expired term of the Board.
(10) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, no person shall be eligible to hold, at the same time, office of a President or Vice-President of the Board of more than two Co-operative Societies.” 384 THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRA ORDINARY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013 Amendment of section 42
15. In the principal Act, in section 42, -
(i) for sub-section (1), the following shall be substituted, namely “(1) The tenure of an office of elected members of the Board and its office bearers shall be five years from the date of election:
Provided that the tenure of office bearers shall be co terminus with the tenure of the Board.”;
(ii) in sub-section (3), for the punctuation mark appearing at the end, the punctuation mark shall be substituted and after that the following proviso shall be inserted, namely :- “Provided that the Board may fill a casual vacancy of a member of the Board by nomination out of the same class of members in respect of which the casual vacancy has arisen, if the remaining term of the Board is less than half of the original term.”;
(iii) after sub-section (3), the following new sub-section (4) shall be inserted, namely :- “(4) “The Board may co-opt persons having experience in the field of banking, management, finance or specialization in the field relating to the objects and activities undertaken by the Co operative societies as members of the Board of such Co operative Societies, provided that there is no such experienced or specialized person in the Board. The number of such co-opted members shall not exceed two in addition to the fifteen Directors specified in section 35 (2):
Provided that such co-opted members shall not have the right to vote in any election in the Board in the capacity as such member or to be eligible to be elected as office bearers of the Board:
Provided further that the functional Directors of a co operative society shall also be the members of the Board and such members shall be excluded for the purpose of counting the total number of Directors of Board as specified in section 35 (2).”.
Amendment of section 49