Q.Explain the powers and duties of the Secretary of a co-operative society.

The secretary is the chief executive and record-keeper of the society, and in practice he is usually the busiest of the office-bearers.

The secretary is the chief executive and record-keeper of a co-operative society, and in the working of most societies he is the busiest of the office-bearers. He is appointed by the managing committee — in a small society usually an honorary secretary drawn from among the committee members, and in a larger society sometimes a paid, full-time secretary — and he functions as the link between the members, the committee, the office-bearers, and outside authorities. If the chairman is the head of the society, the secretary is very much its hands: he puts the society's decisions into effect and keeps its affairs in order.

The secretary's duties are wide and mostly of an administrative and record-keeping nature. He convenes the meetings of the managing committee and the general body as directed by the chairman or the committee, prepares and issues the notices and the agenda of these meetings, attends them, and records their proceedings by writing up the minutes accurately in the minute book. He maintains all the statutory books and records of the society — the register of members, the share register, the books of account, and the other registers required by the Act and the Rules — and keeps them up to date. He conducts the correspondence of the society, dealing with members, the Registrar, banks, and other parties, and preserves the society's documents and files safely and in order.

The secretary also plays a central part in the society's routine financial and compliance work, though under the control of the committee and alongside the treasurer. He arranges for the receipts and payments to be properly recorded, prepares the annual accounts, the balance sheet, and the annual report for placing before the annual general meeting, and makes the arrangements for the audit of the accounts. He is responsible for filing with the Registrar the returns, statements, and documents that the Act requires to be submitted, so that the society remains in compliance with the law. Above all, he implements the resolutions passed by the committee and by the general body and reports back to them on the action taken. …