Correspondence with the Registrar and Other Statutory Authorities

A co-operative society lives under the supervision of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, and a steady stream of written communication passes between the society and the Registrar's office. This correspondence is especially important because it is bound up with the society's legal obligations under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and the Rules, and a lapse can attract departmental objection or penalty. The secretary is the officer who prepares and files these communications, and he must be exact about both their contents and their timing.

The occasions for correspondence with the Registrar are numerous. At formation the society applies to the Registrar for registration and for reservation of its name; thereafter it files applications for registration of amendments to its bye-laws. Periodically it submits the returns and statements the Act requires — for example the annual return, the audited statement of accounts, and information about the managing committee and elections. The society writes to the Registrar to intimate the holding of the annual general meeting, to seek approvals or permissions where the Act requires them, to reply to the Registrar's queries, inspection remarks, or audit objections, and, where necessary, to seek the Registrar's guidance or to make representations. Because the appointment of the statutory auditor of co-operative societies and the audit framework fall within the department's control, correspondence about audit — such as intimating the auditor allotted or forwarding the rectification report on audit objections — is also part of this category. …