Amendment in Section-44AQ of the Act 6 of 1935

The following amendments shall be made to the section-44AQ of the Bihar Co-operative Societies Act, namely (1) The sub-section (2) of Section-44AQ shall be substituted by the following, namely “(2)(a) In order to achieve the objective of this Act, to bring uniformity in the operation of the societies under this Chapter, to enhance their strength and usefulness and to make them viable for the purpose of development of agriculture, the area of a Primary Agriculture Credit Society shall be co-terminus with that of a panchayat and there will be only one such society in each panchayat. (b) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, If the area of a Primary Agriculture Credit Society is found not to be that of a panchayat as provided under sub-clause (a) of this sub-section, the Registrar or an officer authorized by Registrar to act on his behalf, who shall not be below the rank of Assistant Registrar, may order for reorganization including amalgamation or division of one or more such societies as the case may be and register the new society/societies after such reorganisation.” (2) The sub-section (3) of Section-44AQ of the said Act shall be substituted by the following, namely “(3) Notwithstanding anything contrary in this Act, the society or societies which are reorganised under sub-section (2) along with its managing committee shall be deemed to have been dissolved and shall cease to exist from the date of registration of the new society/societies under sub-section (2) and the membership of such registered society shall stand transferred to the respective primary agriculture credit society created for the panchayat to which such members belong after reorganization under sub-section (2) and all the assets and liabilities thereof shall get divided/distributed amongst the new society/societies in the manner prescribed by the Registrar/ Government. Provided that the State Govt. may from time to time, declare a moratorium on the liabilities of the new society/societies created under sub-section (2) of this Section.” (3) The sub-section (4) of Section-44AQ of the said Act shall be substituted by the following, namely “(4)(a) Notwithstanding anything contrary in this Act, upon the reorganisation of societies under sub-section (2) of this section and establishment of new society/societies under sub-section (3) of this section, the Registrar/Government shall constitute or provide for constitution of an ad hoc managing committee for the purposes of managing the affairs of the new society/societies till such time as a new managing committee is constituted after elections under the provisions of this Act and the ad hoc managing committee so constituted shall exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be prescribed. (b) Notwithstanding anything contrary in this Act, upon the constitution of the new managing committee after elections under clause (a), the managing committee of all such affiliating societies of which a primary agriculture credit society is a member or federation of such affiliating societies, shall be reconstituted, as per provisions contained in this Act for constitution of the managing committee of such societies.” (4) The sub-section (5) of Section-44AQ of the Act shall be deleted. (5) In sub-section (6) of Section-44AQ of the Act, the words “sub-section (5)” shall be substituted by the words “sub-section (2)” and the words “a membership fee of Rs. 1” shall be substituted by the words “the membership fee”.