Chapter XII MISCELLANEOUS

Every registered Co-operative Society shall be deemed to be body corporate by the name under which it is registered, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and with power to hold property, to enter into contracts, institute and defend suits and other legal proceedings and to do all things necessary for the purpose for which it was constituted.

Any register or list of members or share kept by any registered society shall be prima fade evidence of any of the following particulars entered therein- (a) The date on which the name of any person was entered in such register or list as memberand (b) The date of which any such member ceased to be a member.

1) A copy of any entry in a book of a registered society, regularly kept in the course of business shall, if certified by the Chairman or Secretary of the society, be received in any suit or legal proceedings as prima facie evidence of such entry and shall be admitted as evidence of the matters, transactions and accounts therein recorded in every case where, and to the same extent as the original entry itself is admissible. 2) No Officer or Liquidator of a registered society and no Officer in whose office the books of a registered society are deposited after liquidation shall in any legal proceedings to which the society or the Liquidator is not a party, be compelled to produce any of the society's books the contents of which can be proved under sub-section (1) orto appear as a witness to prove the matters; transaction and accounts therein recorded unless specially so directed by an order of the court of the Arbitrator.

1) Every society existing at the commencement of the Act which has been registered under the Assam Co-operative Society Act, 1949, law shall be deemed to be registered under this Act, and its Bye-Law shall, in so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, continue in force until altered or rescinded and shall to such extent be deemed to be registered under this Act. 2) All appointment, Rules and orders made, notification and notices issued, all transaction entered into and all suits and other proceedings instituted under the said Act shall continue and shall, so far as may be deemed to have been respectively made, issued entered into or instituted underthis Act. 2) All appointment, Rules and orders made, notification and notices issued, all transaction entered into and all suits and other proceedings instituted under the said Act shall continue and shall, so far as may be deemed to have been respectively made, issued entered into or instituted under this Act.

1) No Act of a Registered Society or of a Managing or Controlling body or of any Officer or Liquidator done in good faith in pursuance of the business of the society shall be deemed to be invalid by reason only of some defect subsequently discovered in the organisation of the society or in the constitution of any such body or in the appointment or election of the Officer or Liquidator or on the ground that such officer or Liquidator was disqualified for appointment. 2) No act done in good faith by any person appointed under this Act shall be invalid merely by reason on the fact that his appointment has been cancelled or in consequence of any order subsequently passed under this Act. 3) The Registrar shall decide whether any act was done in good faith in pursuance of the business of society.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force the State Government may, by a general or special order, require every registered society or a class of registered societies to make contribution of such sum annually to be fixed by the Registrar towards the recoupment of administrative expenditure incurred by the Government in respect of Inspection, Supervision and Guidance of a society or class of societies or of any service to such society or class of societies.

If in the opinion of the Registrar the Board of a Co-operative Society is persistently making default or is negligent in the performance of the duties imposed on it by this Act or the Rules or the Bye-Laws or has committed any act which is prejudicial to the interest of the society or its members, or has omitted or failed to comply with any directions given to it or that there is stalemate in the constitution or functions of the Board, the Registrar shall cause an Inquiry under Section 82 or an Inspection under Section 83 and after giving the society an opportunity to state its objections, if any and after considering the objections, if received forward the Inquiry/Inspection report to the society for placing the report before the Annual General Meeting if due within 60 days from the date of receipt of the report by the society, or at a Special General Meeting to be convened specially for considering to take actions as suggested in the report under sub-section (5) of Section 82 and sub-section (4) of Section 83. If no action as stated above is taken by the society within the stipulated period the Registrar shall by an order in writing supersede the Board and appoint one or more administrators or an ad-hoc committee from the department to manage the affairs of the society for such period not exceeding three months as may be specified in the order which period may at the discretion of the State Government be extended from time to time. Provided that the total period of extension in any case shall not exceed six months, such appointed person shall call a special General Meeting and shall elect a new Board within the above period.

1) If the Registrar or any person authorised by him/her in this behalf while making Audit, Inspection, Inquiry or Supervision as the case may be believe or has reason to believe that the registered society is not keeping or maintaining the accounts, books and records of the society properly or finds or reasonably suspects gross negligence of duties misappropriate or misuse of fund of the society irregularity in recording Proceeding or keeping accounts or books he/she shall have power to take possession of any or all books, registers or documents, cash in hand or accounts books of the society and remove such seized property as may be directed by the Registrar. 2) The person seizing the property of the society under sub-section (1) shall prepare an inventory of the properties seized in duplicate with his signature and require the officer or member of the society from whose possession or custody the property is seized to put his signature in witness thereof and if such officer or member refuses to sign, then the person seizing the property shall call upon two or more persons to sign the seizure list. A copy of the list prepared under this section signed by the witnesses shall be delivered to the officer of the society. 3) The Registrar shall take immediate steps in such case for Audit and Inspection and pass such orders as he/she may deem think fit. 4) The administrative head of a civil sub-division or administrative area shall give police help to all Officers mentioned in sub-section (1) to this section when sought for.

When a registered society takes a loan from an affiliating society and defaults payment of the debt on any instalment thereof, any member of the Managing Body of the Affiliating Society may examine and look into the accounts and workings of such borrowing society and report the result of his inquiry or examination particularly with reference to the said loan to the Affiliating Society and may recommend any suggestion in his report. The borrowing society shall furnish such information and produce such documents, books and accounts as the member of the Managing Body may require.

1) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 the period of limitation for the institution of a claim to recover any sum, including the interest thereon, due to a registered society by a member thereof shall be computed from the date on which such member dies or ceases to be a member of a society. 2) The Indian Limitation Act, 1908 shall not apply to any debts or liability due by any member, past member or deceased member to any society in respect of which an order of dissolution has been passed under this Act.

1) Every year within thirty days of holding of the Annual General Meeting, the Board shall file the following information with the Registrar- a) Annual Report of activities; b) Annual financial statements of accounts as audited with auditors report thereon; c) Statistical statement indicating name of the Co-operative Society, services offered by the Co-operative Society to the members, total number of members as on the last day of the financial year; d) Total liabilities expressed as- (i) Funds from members and surplus; (ii) Funds from other external sources as on the last day of the financial year; (iii) Quantum of rupees or services provided to members and non members and surplus or deficit at the end of the financial year; and 2) Along with the returns specified in sub-section (1) every Co-operative Society shall furnish the following information to the Registrar- a) The date of Annual General Meeting at which the returns to be filed with the Registrar were considered or approved; b) The total number of members on the rolls of the Co-operative Society who were eligible to vote on the date of such Annual General Meeting; c) The number of eligible members present at such Annual General Meeting; d) List of names of Directors with addresses and terms of office; e) Name and address of the internal auditor appointed for internal audit of the society for the current financial year accounts; f) Any other relevant and special information required by the Registrar to enable him/her to decide whether the Co-operative Society has conducted its affairs in accordance with the Co-operative Principles mentioned in Schedule 'A' and the provision of this Act and the Bye-Laws. 3) If the returns and information as specified under sub-section (1) and (2) are not filed or furnished to the Registrar within the period specified under sub-section (1) shall treated as an offence under this Act and the Board shall be penalised in accordance with provisions of this Act.

1) The State Government may, after previous publication, make Rules for carrying out the purpose and objects of this Act, and such Rules may provide a penalty not exceeding Rs. 5,000 for a breach thereof; 2) Every Rule made under this section shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made before the Nagaland Legislative Assembly while it is in session for a total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions and if before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in making any notification in the rule or the Nagaland Legislative Assembly agree that the Rules should not be made, the Rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that Rule.

The Assam Co-operative Societies Act, 1949 (Assam Act 1 of 1950) as enforced in Nagaland is hereby repealed.