6th October 2023 (Odisha Tazanews) Bhubaneswar :-> The Odisha government has formed a high-level committee to allow the sale of immovable assets of cooperative societies. The committee formed under the direction of State Cooperative Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak will be headed by the Special Secretary of the department, while the Additional Secretary (Planning), Assistant Director (Law), Additional Co-operative Registrar (Law and Planning) will be members. Similarly, the deputy registrar of the Cooperation Department will be the convener of the committee.
The committee after receiving the proposal for sale or lease of the immovable assets of the society from the cooperative society will forward it to the state government for examination and approval. After getting approval from the Government, the State Co-operative Bank will take immediate action on its behalf. The committee will meet once every three months and consider the proposals received from the cooperative stakeholders. It is noteworthy that the societies registered under the Co-operative Societies Act 1962 had the power to acquire and sell property.
Under Section 12-A of the Odisha Co-operative Societies Act, 1965, the power to sell both movable and immovable assets was given. According to the provisions therein, the assets of the institution may be sold or leased in accordance with the resolution passed by the management council in the interest of the members, depositors, borrowers and employees. However, the state government found that the management of some cooperative societies ignored the interest of the congregation and started illegally selling and leasing the property of the society.
However, after the formation of this committee, by applying Article 123-A of the Cooperatives Act, the cooperatives cannot sell or lease the property of the cooperative as before, Minister Nayak said. He said that in order to do so, permission has to be taken from the committee formed by the state government. However, these new restrictions will not apply to those cooperatives which have acquired the property through public auctions with their own funds and do not have any share of the government or they are not receiving any kind of assistance from the government.
