Hyderabad: While adopting A.P.C.S (A.P. Cooperative Societies) Act 1964 to the State of Telangana certain amendments were made through G.O.Ms.No.53, dt:20/05/2016. As per Section 31-B of the adopted and amended Telangana Cooperative Societies (TCS) Act, 1964, State Cooperative Election Authority headed by an officer not below the rank of Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies shall conduct elections to all Cooperative Societies registered under the Act. Accordingly the Government constituted the Telangana State Cooperative Election Authority and appointed G.Srinivasa Rao, Additional Registrar as State Cooperative Election Authority. Rule-22 of TCS Rules, 1964 provides for procedure for conduct of elections to the Cooperative Societies. As per the old procedure laid down in Rule-22 the Registrar and the District Collector are the authority to order for elections and appoint Election Officers to the Cooperative Societies. Cooperative Societies not receiving state aid can conduct elections on their own. As per the amended Act, u/S 31-B elections to all Cooperative Societies including un-aided societies shall be conducted by the State Cooperative Election Authority only.
In view of the above, to bring the Rule-22 in conformity with the Section 31-B of the Act, Rule-22 of TCS Rules, 1964 is amended now through GO.Ms. No. 01, Dt: 04.01.2018, Orders are issued by the Government in this regard today. Present amendments also bring certain far reaching changes in the election procedure to make it more transparent and effective.
In effect the present amendment to Rule-22 of TCS Rules, 1964 brings the following important changes.
All Cooperative Societies including un-aided societies shall submit proposals for elections 60 days before the expiry of their term to the State Cooperative Election Authority for conduct of elections.
Proposals for elections should contain voters list approved by the Registrar. Finalisation of eligible voters list is the bone of contention in many elections. To make it transparent, eligible voter list prepared by the committee shall be submitted to the Registrar. The Registrar shall call for objections and finalise the voters list after examining all the objections. Earlier the voters list was used to be finalised by the Election Officer who is a low ranking officer. Earlier, voters list was prepared after issue of election notification. Now, eligible voters list is to be finalised and approved by the Registrar well before the issue of election notification by the Election Authority.
Election expenditure will not be given to the Election Officer by the society which may result in undesirable practices and is the source of allegation of collusion. Now, the election expenditure amount is to be deposited with the State Cooperative Election Authority which in turn will spend it for the purpose.
State Cooperative Election Authority is given powers to issue guidelines in future to deal with evolving situations.
Earlier unfilled / vacant seats of reserved categories were filled up by nomination. This led to many un-healthy practices. Now, all vacant and un filled seats upon election have to be filled by election by Election Authority again. If any vacancy arises after the election due to resignation or death or disqualification, it can be filled by nomination only if the term of the committee is less than 2 ½ years. No member lost in the current election is eligible for nomination.
Composition of Managing Committees is amended to keep the total number within the maximum of 21 as laid down by the Act.
The process of election by show of hands is now restricted to only societies having the strength of eligible voters below 50.
Forms connected to the election process are re-designed to make them contemporary. Nominations forms to contain photo and details of Aadhar, PAN, Bank Account and KCC details in case of PACS.
Voters list to contain photographs of voters.
The Present orders of Government are expected to bring in transparency in the election process to all the Cooperative Societies and thus make the Cooperative Societies democratic and effective. This step would go a long way in strengthening the Cooperative sector of the Telangana State.
