Q.State the conditions that must be satisfied before a co-operative society can be registered under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960.

The Act does not allow any group at all to be registered as a co-operative society; several conditions in Sections 4, 6 and 7 must first be met.

These conditions exist to ensure that only genuine, viable, principle-based groups obtain the legal privileges that come with registration, and that a society cannot be got up dishonestly.

The Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 lays down a set of conditions, mainly in Sections 4, 6 and 7, that must be satisfied before the Registrar can register a proposed society. These conditions act as a filter, ensuring that only genuine co-operative groups obtain the legal status and privileges that registration brings.

The first condition is one of purpose, set out in Section 4. A society may be registered only if it has as its object the promotion of the economic interests or the general welfare of its members, or of the public, in accordance with co-operative principles. A body formed purely to earn commercial profit for a few individuals, unconnected with co-operative principles, cannot be registered as a co-operative society. This purpose test keeps the co-operative form true to its character of self-help through mutual co-operation.

The second, and most frequently examined, condition is the minimum number of members under Section 6. For a society of which all the members are individuals, there must be at least ten persons. These persons must be qualified to be members (competent to contract and otherwise eligible under Section 22), must reside in or carry on their occupation within the society's area of operation, and — an important Maharashtra requirement — each of the ten must ordinarily belong to a different family, so that the society cannot be formed by one family pretending to be several members. For a federal society, whose members are themselves societies, the requirement is at least five member-societies. The Registrar may require a higher number for particular classes of societies where economic viability calls for it.

The third condition, under Section 7, is that the society must be registered either with limited liability or with unlimited liability, and this liability status must be reflected in its name and bye-laws; most co-operative societies today are registered with limited liability. In addition, the proposed society must have a name that is not identical with, or deceptively similar to, that of an existing registered society, and a clearly defined area of operation, and its proposed bye-laws must not be contrary to the Act or the Rules. Only when all of these conditions are met together — proper co-operative object, minimum eligible members from different families residing in the area, a stated liability status, an acceptable name and area, and lawful bye-laws — can the Registrar proceed to register the society.