Constitution of the Board

(1) The Board of Souharda Co-operative Society shall consists of not less than thirteen members excluding the Chief Executive, but not exceeding the number of members as may be prescribed; Provided that, one seat shall be reserved in favour of members belonging to the scheduled castes and one seat for the members belonging to the scheduled tribes, two seats shall be reserved in favour of women members and two seats shall be reserved in favour of members belonging to backward classes as may be notified by the State Government, on the board of every primary, secondary or union and apex co-operative society. Provided further that, respective Co-operative shall make provisions in the bye-laws with previous approval of the Registrar to increase the number of seats in the Board of secondary or union and apex co-operative society if their number of board of directors exceeds the limit as specified in sub-section (1). Provided also that, every co-operative shall co-opt persons having experience in the field of banking, management, finance or specialization in any other field relating to the objects and activities undertaken by the co-operative, as members of the board of such co-operative and such co-opted members shall not have the right to vote in any election of the co-operative in their capacity as such member or to be eligible to be elected as office bearers of the board. Provided also that, the number of such co-opted members shall not exceed two in addition to maximum number of directors specified in sub-section (1). Provided also that, not more than three functional directors if necessary of a cooperative shall also be the members of the board and such members shall be excluded for the purpose of counting the total number of directors specified in the sub-section (1). (2) Save as otherwise in the Act, the term of the directors will be five years from the date of election. Provided that the term of the director of the Federal Co-operative shall end if he ceases to be the director of the representative Co-operative. (3) The chief executive shall be an ex-officio member of the board and shall not have a right to vote in the election of the office bearers. In the Principal Act, in section 60, in sub-section (3A) for the words “twenty percent of the members”, the words “ten percent of the members or one thousand whichever is less, those members” shall be substituted.