Amendment of section 73 A

In section 73A of the Principal Act, - (i) for sub-section (1), the following shall be substituted, namely,- “(1) The Board of a co-operative society shall be constituted with such number as may be specified by rules and bye-laws of the society; Provided that the maximum number of Directors of the Board shall not exceed twenty one; Provided further that one seat for scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, and two seats for women and one seat for small farmers shall be reserved in the Board of a co-operative society consisting of individuals as members and having members from such class or category of members. Provided also that the Board may fill a casual vacancy on the Board by nomination out of the same class of members in respect of which the casual vacancy had arisen if the term of the Board is less than half of its original term. Provided also that the representatives of the employees and workers of the co-operative society be included in the Board as may be provided by the rules and bye-laws of such society” (ii) For clause (a) of sub-section (1B), the following shall be substituted, namely - (a) “Persons having experience in the field of banking, management, finance or specialization in any other field related to the objects and activities undertaken by the co-operative society may be co-opted as members of the Board upto a maximum of two in addition to the number of Boards specified in the bye-law; Provided that such co-opted professional members of the Board besides the normal number of the Board, shall have no right to vote in any election of the co-operative society in their capacity as such members or to be eligible to be elected as office bearers of the Board; Provided also that the functional directors of a co-operative society 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 section 73 A (1).”.