(1) No person shall be admitted as member of Co-operative Society except the following, namely :––
(a) an individual who is––
(i) competent to contract under section 11 of [the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9 of 1872) ;
[(ii) a permanent resident of the State of Jammu and Kashmir as defined in section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir] ;
(b) any other Co-operative Society registered under this Act ;
(c) a firm, company or any other body corporate constituted under any law for the time being in force or a Society registered under [the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860)] :
[Provided that every partner, director or member as the case may be, of such firm, company, corporate body or society is a permanent resident of the State.]
[(d) a Self-help group.
Explanation :–– For purposes of clause (d), a self-help group means a homogeneous group of rural poor comprising of ten to twenty members, voluntarily formed to save small amounts out of their earnings and agreed upon to form a corpus or fund to be lent on loan to the members of such group].
(2) Where a person is refused admission as a member in a Co-operative Society, the decision refusing admission shall be communicated by the Society to that person within fifteen days of the date of submission of application for admission.
(3) No individual shall be admitted as member of a Central or Apex Society unless such a Society has been exempted by the Registrar in this behalf, by general or special order.
(4) The Central and Apex Societies having individual as members on the date of commencement of this Act, shall retire the shares of such individuals within a period of three years of such commencement in the prescribed form.
Explanation.—For the purpose of this section––
(a) “Primary Society” means a Co-operative Society whose membership consists exclusively of individuals ;
(b) “Central Society” means a Co-operative Society whose membership includes primary societies ;
(c) “Apex Society” means a Co-operative Society whose membership includes Central Societies. Notwithstanding anything contained herein, the Jammu and Kashmir State Co-operative Rural Development Bank shall be construed as Apex Society for the purpose of this Act :
Provided that in case of districts where Central level Societies do not exist and Apex Level Societies have been undertaking the functions of Central Level Societies and have enrolled primary societies as members. These primary Societies will continue to remain as the members of the Apex Level Societies till the time Central Level Societies come up or are registered in these districts. After the Central Level Societies are registered in these districts, primary societies, shall cease to exist as members of Apex Level Societies.
(5) Every person eligible for admission as member of a Co-operative Society shall be deemed to have been admitted as a member of the Society from the date of receipt of his application for such admission in the office of that Society.
(6) The Registrar may, of his own motion or on a complaint made by the Committee of the Society or any aggrieved person, by an order determine that such a person is not eligible to be a member of the Society and on such determination that person will cease to be member :
Provided that no such order shall be made unless the person already admitted as a member is given opportunity of being heard and where an order is to be made on the basis of complaint it shall be made within a period of thirty days of the receipt thereof.
(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Government or any person authorised by the Government may, having regard to the fact that the interests of any person or class of persons conflict or are likely to conflict with the objects of any Society or class of Societies, by general or special order published in the Government Gazette, declare that any person or class of persons engaged in or carrying on any profession, business or employment shall be dis-qualified from being admitted or for continuing as members or shall be eligible for membership only to a limited extent of any specified Society or class of Societies so long as such person or persons are engaged in or carry on that profession, business or employment as the case may be.
[(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), any person desirous of making a deposit in Primary Agricultural Credit Society shall become a member of that Society by subscribing the minimum share capital specified in the bye-laws and on admission as such, he shall be entitled to full membership voting rights].