Chapter 1 PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Haryana Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 1984(Amended upto May 2013). (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Haryana.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires :-(a) "apex society" means a cooperative society whose area of operation extends to the whole of the State and the primary object of which is the promotion of the objects and the provision of facilities for the operation of other co-operative societies which are its members; (aa) "area of operation" means an area from which the persons are admitted as members; (ab) "auditor" means an Inspector (Audit), Senior Auditor or Audit Officer appointed in the department of Co-operation; (ac) "auditing firm" means a chartered accountant or a firm of chartered accountants, who are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, within the meaning of the Chartered Accountant Act, 1949 (38 of 1949); (b) "bye-laws" means the registered bye-laws for the time being in force; (c) "cadre society" means an apex society which is required to constitute a common cadre under section 37; (d) "central society" means a co-operative society the primary object of which is to facilitate the working of other co-operative societies which are its members; (da) "certified copy" means a copy of an entry in the books of society together with a certificate written at the foot of such copy that it is a true copy of such entry, that such entry is contained in one of the books of the society and was made on usual and ordinary course of business and that book is still in the custody of the society. Such certificate shall be signed by the Chief Executive of the society with his name and official title; (db) [omitted] (e) "committee" means the board of directors or the governing body of a co-operative society, by whatever name called, upon which the power of direction and control of the management of the affairs of the society is entrusted to; (ea) "co-operative bank" means a co-operative society which undertakes banking business; (1) (eaa) co-operative credit structure means the Haryana State Co-operative Apex Bank Ltd., Central Co-operative Banks, Primary Agriculture Co-operative Societies, Farmers Service Societies, the Haryana State Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank and the Primary Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks; (eb) co-operative principles means the co-operative principles specified in the Schedule; (f) co-operative society or society means a society registered or deemed to be registered under this Act; (g) co-operative society with limited liability means a co-operative society, the liability of whose members is limited by its bye-laws; (h) co-operative society with unlimited liability means a cooperative society, the liability of whose members is unlimited for the purpose of contributing jointly and severally to any deficiency in the assets of the society in the event of its being, wound up; (ha) delegate means a person elected by a group of members to represent them on the general body of the society in accordance with its bye-laws; (hb) election authority means Co-operative Election Authority constituted under sub-section (1A) of section 28 of this Act; (i) financing institution means an institution to be notified by the Government in this behalf; (j) Government means the Government of the State of Haryana; (ja) interest means an interest of a member in a society and includes shares, loans, deposits and obligations that arise by virtue of its bye-laws; and are owed by the society to a member; (k) member means an individual or a society joining in the application for the registration of a cooperative society and a person or society admitted to the membership after such registration in accordance with this Act, the rules and the bye-laws and includes an associate member and the Government when it subscribes to the share capital of a society; (ka) National Bank means the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development established under the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981 (61 of 1981); (l) net profits means profit after deduction of establishment charges, contingent charges, interest payable on loan and deposits, audit fee and such other sums as may be prescribed; (m) officer means the President, Vice-President, Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, Secretary, Manager, Member of Committee, Treasurer, Liquidator, Administrator appointed, elected or nominated, as the case may be and also includes any other person employed by the Society and empowered under the rules or the bye-laws to give directions in regard to the business of a co-operative society; (n) prescribed means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (o) primary society means a cooperative society, object of which is to promote the common interests of its members and whose membership consists exclusively of individuals; (p) producer society means a society formed with the object of producing and disposing of goods and commodities as a collective property of its members and includes a society formed with the object of the collective disposal of the labour of its members; (pa) Reserve Bank means the Reserve Bank of India established under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934); (q) rules means the rules made under this Act; (r) Registrar means a person appointed to perform the function of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies under this Act and includes any person appointed to assist the Registrar when exercising any of the powers of the Registrar; (ra) Schedule means Schedule appended to this Act; (s) section means a section of the Act; (sa) share means an interest of a member in the society measured by a sum of money including both rights and liabilities; (t) trustee means the trustee referred to in section 67 of this Act; and (u) weaker section means- (i) agricultural labourers, marginal farmers and small farmers, as defined in section 2 of the Haryana Relief of Agricultural Indebtedness Act, 1976; (ii) members of Scheduled Castes and such other economically and socially backward or neglected persons as the Government may, from time to time, specify in this behalf. (2) All other words and expressions used and not defined in this Act but defined in the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002 (39 of 2002), shall have the meaning respectively assigned in the said Act.