Q.What is the general body of a co-operative society? Why is it called the supreme authority?

The general body is not a small group but the whole membership assembled together, and because a co-operative belongs to its members, their collective voice is treated as the highest authority.

The Act reserves key powers to it alone — adopting the accounts, disposing of profits, electing the committee, and amending the bye-laws — which is why ultimate control stays with the whole membership.

The general body of a co-operative society is the assembly of all its members. It is important to note that it is not a small or select group; it is the whole membership of the society meeting together to take decisions on the society's affairs. Because a co-operative society belongs to its members, the collective voice of the members — expressed through the general body — is regarded as the highest and final authority within the society. The general body exercises its authority through general meetings: it is not in permanent session, but comes into action when a general meeting is called and the members assemble, take up the business on the agenda, discuss it, and decide it by resolution, each member participating directly and, under the one-member-one-vote rule, having an equal vote.

The general body is called the supreme authority for two main reasons. The first is a matter of principle: since the society is owned by the members, no organ within it can stand above the collective will of the members themselves. Consequently, no other organ — not even the managing committee — can override a lawful decision of the general body. The committee manages the society, but it does so within the framework, and subject to the control, laid down by the general body.

The second reason is that this supremacy is written into the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 itself. The Act reserves certain vital powers to the general body which the managing committee cannot exercise on its own. These include the adoption of the annual accounts and the committee's report, the disposal of the net profits of the society, the election (and, where allowed, removal) of the members of the managing committee, the amendment of the bye-laws, and the fixing of the maximum limit up to which the society may borrow. By keeping these key powers — control over money, over the choice of managers, and over the society's own constitution — with the whole membership rather than with a small committee, the Act ensures that ultimate control of every co-operative society stays with its owners, the members. It is this combination of principle and statutory reservation of powers that makes the general body the supreme authority of a co-operative society.