Orissa High Court

Cuttack, Nov. 19: The controversy over dissolution of 93 elected cooperatives following enforcement of the Odisha Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2011, has intensified in the high court here with petitions seeking intervention against it while challenging the constitutional validity of the amended act.

While increasing number of petitions were filed, the high court, over the past 30 days, has passed interim orders on more than 23 petitions restraining nominated committees from running cooperatives and directed elected bodies to continue in office. The latest being on November 17, in the case of three cooperatives, including the Odisha State Cooperative Handicraft Corporation.

The government had superseded the cooperative societies by issuing separate orders on September 24 replacing elected bodies with nominated committees to run them.

But, the common contention of the petitioners which include elected presidents, directors and members of cooperatives is that the dissolution of the elected cooperative bodies before completion of their term “in the garb of reservation” is “unreasonable”.

Registrar of cooperative societies (Odisha) Bipin Bihari Mohapatra, contends, “After coming into force of the act, the registrar had the choice to manage the societies himself or to nominate committee to manage the affairs of the said societies. So, the registrar used his administrative discretion in the absence of any specific rule for such temporary arrangement of the committee of management formation”.

There are approximately 7,000 cooperative societies in the state. “The nominations of the committee of management for the first batch in 93 cooperative societies were made on the ground of administrative exigency,” Mohapatra said in an affidavit filed in the high court.

“Most of them are required to meet the day-to-day functions to cater to the need of farmers and achievement of the socio-economic programmes floated through cooperative organisations such as cooperative banks, regional cooperative marketing societies, wholesale cooperative societies,” said the registrar.

The act has provision for uniform and proportional representation of scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward class (including socially and educationally backward classes) and women to the committees of the societies proportionate to their number in the society.

By virtue of the new provision, all the elected cooperative bodies, which exist at present, are to be de-reserved on the ground of lack of caste-based proportional representation.

However, Raghaba Parida, elected president of the Aska Central Multipurpose Cooperative Society, contends in his petition: “The present committees of different cooperative societies of the state are having representation of SC, ST, OBC and women above 50 per cent to 60 per cent or above. Thus there is no rationale behind the present legislation making some cosmetic changes without changing the reservations already provided.”

Similarly, Kedareswar Samantaray, elected director and member of the Khurda District Cooperative Union, argues in his petition: “There is no rationale behind the dissolution, especially when the existing elected committees have adequate representation of the reserved category of members.”

“The pious wish of the legislature to hold fresh election within six months would also remain as a myth from the experience of the past. The nominated boards, either consisting of bureaucrats or politicians, would continue to manage the affairs of the cooperative societies of the state for an indefinite period as has been done in the past,” contends another petition.