(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the rules and the bye-laws, the final authority of a society shall vest in the general body of its members:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall affect the exercise by the committee or any officer of a society of any power conferred on such committee or such officer by this Act or the rules or the bye-laws.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where the area of operation of a society is not less than such area as may be prescribed, or where the society consists of not less than such number of members as may be prescribed, the society may provide by an amendment of its bye- laws for the constitution of a smaller body consisting of such number of the members of the society as may be prescribed, elected in accordance with the rules (hereinafter referred to as the representative general body) to exercise all or any of the powers of the general body as may be specified in the bye-laws except the power to conduct election of members of the committee, and any reference, by whatever form of words, in this Act to the general body or a meeting thereof shall, where a representative general body has been constituted under this subsection, have effect in respect of the powers exercisable by the representative general body as if such reference were a reference to the representative general body or a meeting thereof, as the case may be:
Provided that the representative general body shall not alter any provision in the bye-laws relating to its constitution or powers.
(3) The exercise of any power by the representative general body shall be subject to such restrictions and conditions as may be specified in the rules or the bye-laws.
]28.Appointment of committee.-(1)The general body of a society shall 33b[constitute a committee, for a period 33k[of] 33f[five years]] in accordance with the bye-laws and entrust the management of the affairs of the society to such committee;
33l[Explanation: Notwithstanding anything contained in the byelaws, for the purpose of calculating the term of committee, five years from the date of election will be taken to be the term of the committee.]
Provided that, in the case of a society registered after the commencement of this Act, the persons who have signed the application to register the society may appoint a committee to conduct the affairs of the society for a period of three months from the date of registration or for such further period as the Registrar may consider necessary, but the committee appointed under this proviso shall cease to function as soon as a committee has been constituted in accordance with the bye-laws:
33[Provided further that where the bye-laws so provide, the Government or the Registrar may nominate all or any of the members of the first committee, including the president or chairman, for a period not exceeding 33b[twelve months.]] 33g[33f[33b[xxx]]] 33n[33l[Provided also that the election to the committees of the societies shall not be conducted on ward basis irrespective of any provisions to the contrary contained in the bye-laws of any society.]
33h [33f[33c[(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of a Society, the number of the members of the committee shall not be less than seven and shall not exceed 33k[fifteen] in the case of Primary Co-operative Societies and 33k[twenty one] in the case of all other types of co-operative societies.]
33d[xxx]] 33i[Provided that in the case of committees of Primary Co-operative Societies constituted prior to the commencement of the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2010 the maximum number of members shall be fifteen:]
33l[Provided further that this section shall not be applicable to the committees of Primary Co-operative Societies and all other types of Cooperative Societies constituted prior to the commencement of the Kerala Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act,2013:
Provided also that this section shall not be applicable to the societies where election notification was issued and election procedure was started on the basis of the existing provisions of the Act, prior to the commencement of the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act,2013;]
(1B) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of any Federal Co-operative Society, the number of individuals in the society and the Committee thereof shall not exceed twenty five percent of the total number of members in the society or in the Committee, as the case may be, 33m[subject to the limit specified in 33e[sub-section (1A) xxx] of section 28;]]]] 33i[(1C) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of a Primary Credit Society or an Urban Co-operative Bank, one seat in the committee of each such society shall be reserved for the members having a deposit of ten thousand rupees and above.]
33j[(1D) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any Judgment, decree or order of any court, the registration of any Primary Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank without the bifurcation of area, assets and liabilities of the society and the constitution of the committee pursuant to any such a registration without such bifurcation shall be void and the Registrar shall appoint Special Officer for each of such societies which were registered without bifurcation of area, assets and liabilities.
33p[(1DA) Notwithstanding any thing contained in this Act or in any judgment, decree or order of any court the registration of any Primary Tourism Cooperative Society without bifurcation of area, assets and liabilities of the society and the constitution of the committee pursuant to any such registration without such bifurcation shall be void and the registration appoint a special officer for each of such societies.]
(1E)The Special Officer so appointed shall ,-
(i)take into custody or bring under his control, the property, effects and actionable claims to which the erstwhile society is, or appears to be entitled to and shall take steps as may be necessary or expedient to prevent loss or deterioration of or damage to, such property, effects and claims;
(ii)take such steps for the bifurcation of area, assets and liabilities of the society and also shall take steps to register new society with the members of the society so bifurcated and constitute the committee;
(iii)such bifurcation shall be completed within a period of one year from the date of commencement of the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2012 (9 of 2012).
33q[(IF) xxxx] 33k[(1G) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of a society, the committee in office shall co-opt two persons or representatives who are having experience in the field of banking, management, finance or specialization in any other field, relating to the objects and activities undertaken by the Co-operative society as members of the Board of such society:
Provided that number of such co-opted members shall not exceed two in addition to maximum limit specified in sub-section (1A):
Provided further that such co-opted members shall not have the right to vote in any election of the co-operative society in their capacity as such member and is not eligible to be elected as office bearers of the board;
Provided also that such co-opted members of a co-operative society shall also be members of the board and such members shall be excluded for the purpose of counting the total number of directors specified in subsection (1A).]
33q[33n[(IH)xxxx]] 33o[(1I)xxxx]] 33l[(1J) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of the society, casual vacancy of an elected member of the committee shall be filled up by nomination by the Committee out of the same class of members, if the term of office of the board is less than half of its original term.]
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, a person shall be disqualified for appointment as, or for being, a member of a committee—
(a)if he is a member of the committee of 33h[more than one society of the same type, or]
(b)if he is a member of the committees of 33h[more than two societies of different types]:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall be deemed to disqualify a person for election as, or for being, a delegate of a society.
(3) Nothing contained in clause (a) of sub-section (2) shall be deemed to disqualify a member of the committee of a society for appointment as, or for being, a member of the committee of the apex or central society of the same type:
Provided that no member of a committee shall be the president or chairman of more than one society of the same type.
(4)The members of a committee may be paid honorarium, at such rates as may be prescribed.
33a[(5)The quorum for a meeting of a committee shall be such number of members just above fifty per cent of the total number of members of that committee.]
33p[(1K) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or Rules made thereunder or byelaws in a regional Milk Producers Union having jurisdiction over more than one revenue district, the members of the Committee representing each revenue district shall be elected by the member societies of that particular revenue district itself from among themselves.]
33 substituted 33a inserted by Act 19 of 1987 33b substituted 33c inserted by Act 5 of 1992 33d inserted 33e substituted by Act 16 of 1993 33f substituted by Act 1 of 2000 33g omitted 33h substituted 33i inserted by Act 7 of 2010 33j inserted by Act 13 of 2012 33k substituted 33l added 33m inserted by Act 8 of 2013 33n substituted 33o omitted by Act 14 of 2017 33p inserted by Act 39 of 2018 33q inserted by Act 13 of 2012, (1F), (1H) omitted by Act 1 of 2019. “(IF) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of the District Co-operative Bank, two seats in the committee of each District Co-operative Bank shall be reserved for depositor member societies in the Bank.
(1H) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of the District Co-operative Bank at least one seat in respect of each taluk shall be reserved for the representatives of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies in the committee of the District co-operative Bank.
33q inserted by Act 13 of 2012, (1I) omitted by Act 14 of 2017. (1I) Notwithstanding anything contained in the bye-laws of the District Co-operative Bank, at least four seats in the committee of the District Co-operative Bank shall be reserved for other types of co-operative societies as members in the District co-operative Banks”.
34[28A .Reservation for women members and members belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in the committee.-34c[(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the rules or the bye-laws, there shall be reserved 34a[in the committee of every society 34d[three of the total seats for woman members] and one seat for a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes 34a[xxx]]
(2)Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall prevent the women members and members belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes from being elected to the non-reserved seats in the committee.]
34d[34c[34b[(3) Where there is no representation of women or members belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in the committee of a Society including those of the societies formed exclusively for the benefit of women and for persons belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, the Government or the Registrar shall nominate women and persons belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, to the elected committee from among the members of such societies.]]
(4) A person nominated to the committee of a society or Bank shall have all the powers of a member elected to such committee and shall hold office during the pleasure of the Government or the Registrar, as the case may be.]
34 inserted by Act 29 of 1986 34a substituted 34b inserted by Act 5 of 1992 34c substituted by Act 1 of 2000 34d substituted by Act 7 of 2010 35[28AA. Reservation for persons with banking experience or professional qualification in the committees of Urban Co-operative Banks.-Notwithstanding anything contained in the byelaws of any Urban Co-operative Bank, there shall be reserved not less than two seats in the committees of such banks for members who possess experience in banking or professional qualifications:
Provided that this section shall not be applicable to the committees of Urban Co-operative Banks constituted prior to the commencement of the Kerala Co-Operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2010.
Explanation:- For the purpose of this section,-
(i)“members who possess experience in banking” means members who are or were in paid service of a Commercial Bank, State Cooperative Bank, District Co-operative Bank, an Urban Co-operative Bank or a Service Co-operative Bank in the managerial cadre.
(ii)“Professional qualifications” means membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India or Masters Degree in Business Administration or Membership in the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India or Masters Degree in Commerce with experience in banking or experience in the inspection or audit of banks, including Co-operative Bank.]
35 inserted by Act 7 of 2010 36a[36[28AB.]Election and Removal of President, Vice- President etc.-(1)A committee constituted under sub-section (1) of section 28 shall elect from themselves a President, a Vice-President, a Treasurer or any other officer, by whatever name he is designated, in the manner as may be prescribed.
(2)A committee shall remove from office the President, Vice- President or the Treasurer or any other officer of the committee if a motion expressing want of confidence in any or all of them is carried with the support of the majority of the members of such committee in accordance with the procedure as may be prescribed.]] 36 inserted as 28AA by Act 3 of 2002 file:///home/user/Desktop/share/B/2022/B1/..%2FKCS%20Act%20&%20Amendment%20-%20Copy%2FAmendment%203-%202002.pdf file:///home/user/Desktop/share/B/2022/B1/..%2FKCS%20Act%20&%20Amendment%20-%20Copy%2FAmendment%207%20-%202010.pdf 36a existing section 28AA renumbered as 28AB by Act 7 of 2010 37[28B. State Co-operative Election Commission.-37c[(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in the rules, the Government shall by notification in the Gazette, constitute a State Co- operative Election Commission for the superintendence, directions and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and for the conduct of all elections to Co-operative Societies including election to the President/Vice-President 37b[and Representative General Body.]] 37d[37b[xxx]] 37c[(2)The State Co-operative Election Commission shall consist of not more than three members, one among them shall be the State Chief Co-operative Election Commissioner and others shall be Commissioners.
The State Chief Co-operative Election Commissioner shall be an officer not file:///home/user/Desktop/share/B/2022/B1/..%2FKCS%20Act%20&%20Amendment%20-%20Copy%2FAmendment%207%20-%202010.pdf below the rank of Special Secretary to Government. The commissioners shall be persons, who are or have been Officers of the Department of Co-operation, not below the rank of Additional Registrar of Co-operative Societies. The appointment of State Chief Co-operative Election commissioner and the commissioners shall be for a period of five years from the date of assumption of office or sixty two years, whichever is earlier :
Provided that in the case of officers in service, the Chief Election Commissioner and the commissioners shall vacate their offices on their date of superannuation:
Provided further that,
(i) The State Co-operative Election Commission shall in consultation with the Registrar have power to fix, alter or revise the maximum and minimum limit of election expenses to be spent by different classes of societies by special or general order;
(ii)The Election Commission may fix fee or cost for election process, in accordance with rules made in this behalf;
(iii)The procedure for payment of election fee or cost shall be such, as may be prescribed.]
(3)The State Co-operative Election Commission shall, in consultation with the Government 37a[and the Registrar], designate or nominate officers and employees of the Government to assist the Commission in the conduct of election to the committee 37a[and Representative General Body] of such society.
(4)Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Government may, by rule, make provision with respect to all matters relating to, or in connection with elections to the committee 37a[and Representative General Body] of a society.]
37 inserted by Act 1 of 2000 37a & 37b inserted by Act 7 of 2010 37c substituted & 37d Omitted by Act 8 of 2013 file:///home/user/Desktop/share/B/2022/B1/..%2FKCS%20Act%20&%20Amendment%20-%20Copy%2FAmendment%208-%20%202013.pdf file:///home/user/Desktop/share/B/2022/B1/..%2FKCS%20Act%20&%20Amendment%20-%20Copy%2FAmendment%207%20-%202010.pdf file:///home/user/Desktop/share/B/2022/B1/..%2FKCS%20Act%20&%20Amendment%20-%20Copy%2FAmendment%201-%202000.pdf