Q.What is the managing committee of a co-operative society? How is it constituted?

Since the general body cannot meet every day, the real running of the society is entrusted to a smaller elected body called the managing committee.

While the general body holds supreme authority, it cannot assemble every day to run the society. The actual, ongoing management of a co-operative society is therefore entrusted to a smaller elected body called the managing committee (also referred to in the Act simply as the committee, and in practice sometimes as the board of directors). Under Section 73 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, the management of every society vests in a committee, constituted in accordance with the Act, the Rules, and the bye-laws, which exercises such powers and performs such duties as are conferred or imposed on it. The committee is thus the executive organ of the society — the place where the day-to-day authority actually sits, between one general meeting and the next.

As to how the committee is constituted, the governing principle is election by the members. The members of the managing committee are elected by the general body from among the members of the society. Because the committee is elected by the members, it is directly answerable to them, and this is what keeps the management democratic. The details of its constitution — the number of committee members, the qualifications a person must have to be elected, the constituencies or categories from which members are drawn, and the manner of holding the elections — are laid down by the Act, the Rules, and the society's own bye-laws. The Act also provides for the reservation of seats on the committee so that women and members belonging to weaker sections are represented, reflecting the inclusive social purpose of the co-operative movement. …