The Governing Law and the Registrar of Co-operative Societies

The formation and registration of every co-operative society in Maharashtra is governed by the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, read together with the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961 framed under it. The Act lays down who may form a society, the conditions that must be satisfied before it can be registered, the procedure for applying, and the legal effects of registration; the Rules and the prescribed forms fill in the working detail, such as the exact form the application must take. A Std XI student should be able to name this Act correctly and by its full title, because it is the single statute on which the whole chapter rests.

The official empowered to register societies is the Registrar of Co-operative Societies. Under Section 3 of the Act, the State Government appoints a person to be the Registrar of Co-operative Societies for the State and may appoint other persons — designated as Additional, Joint, Deputy, and Assistant Registrars — to assist the Registrar and to exercise the powers of the Registrar in the areas assigned to them. In practice this means that although the Act speaks of "the Registrar", the actual application for a small local society is dealt with by a subordinate registering officer for that district or taluka, exercising the Registrar's powers. It is this Registrar (or the officer exercising his powers) who scrutinises the application, decides whether the legal conditions are met, and either registers the society or refuses registration. …