Chapter VI PRIVILEGES OF MULTI-STATE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES

A multi-State co-operative society shall have a charge on the share or contribution or interest in the capital and on the deposits of a member or past or deceased member and on any dividend, bonus or profits payable to a member or past member or the estate of a deceased member in respect of any debt due from such member or past member or the estate of such deceased member to the society and may set-off any sum credited or payable to a member or past member or the estate of deceased member in or towards payment of any such debt.

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 55, the share or contribution or interest of a member or past or deceased member in the capital of a multi-State co-operative society shall not be liable to attachment or sale under any decree or order of any court in respect of any debtor liability incurred by such member, and an official assignee or a receiver under any law relating to insolvency shall not be entitled to, or have any claim on, such share or contribution or interest. (2) The reserve fund, or the bad debt reserves, or the provident fund of the employees, of a multi-State co-operative society invested by such society in accordance with the provision of this Act and the bye-laws shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of a court in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the society.

Any register or list of members or shares kept by any multi-State co-operative society shall be prima facie evidence of any of the following particulars entered therein, namely:— (a) the date on which any person entered in such register or list became a member; and (b) the date on which any such person ceased to be a member.

(1) A copy of any entry in a book of a multi-State co-operative society regularly kept in the course of its business shall, if certified in such manner as may be prescribed, be received in any suit or legal proceedings as prima facie evidence of the existence 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 if admissible. (2) No officer of a multi-State co-operative society and no officer in whose office the books of a multi-State co-operative 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 or documents the contents of which can be proved under this section, or to appear as a witness to prove the matters, transactions and accounts therein recorded, except under an order of a court or an arbitrator made for a special cause.

Nothing in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1) of section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908) shall apply to— (a) any instrument relating to shares in a multi-State co-operative society notwithstanding that the assets of the society consist in whole or in part of immovable property; or (b) any debenture issued by any such society and not creating, declaring, assigning, limiting or extinguishing any right, title or interest to or in immovable property, except in so far as it entitles the holder thereof to the security afforded by a registered instrument whereby the society has mortgaged, conveyed or otherwise transferred the whole or part of its immovable property or any interest therein to trustees upon trust for the benefit of the holders of such debentures; or (c) an endorsement upon transfer of any debenture issued by any such society.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, a member of a multi-State co-operative society may execute an agreement in favour of that society providing that his employer disbursing his salary or wages shall be competent to deduct every month from the salary or wages payable to him, such amount as may be specified in the agreement and to pay the amount so deducted to the society in satisfaction of any debt or other demand the member owes to the society. (2) On the execution of such agreement, the employer disbursing the salary or wages of the members shall, if so required by the multi-State co-operative society, by a requisition in writing and so long as the society does not intimate that the whole of such debt or other demand has been paid, make the deduction in accordance with the agreement and pay the amount so deducted to the society within a period of fourteen days of the date on which deduction has been made, as if it were a part of the salary or wages payable on the day as required under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936), and such payment shall be valid discharge of the employer for his liability to pay the amount deducted. (3) If after the receipt of a requisition made under sub-section (2), the employer disbursing the salary or wages of the member at any time fails to deduct the amount specified in the requisition from the salary or wages payable to the member concerned or makes default in remitting the amount deducted to the multi-State co-operative society, the society shall be entitled to recover any such amount from such employer as arrears of land revenue and the amount so due from such employer shall rank in priority in respect of the liability of such employer equal to that of the salary or wages in arrears.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the Central Government or a State Government, on receipt of request from a multi-State co-operative society and with a view to promoting co-operative movement, may,— (a) subscribe to the share capital of a multi-State co-operative society; (b) give loans or make advances to a multi-State co-operative society; (c) guarantee the repayment of principal and payment of interest on debentures issued by a multi-State co-operative society; (d) guarantee the repayment of share capital of a multi-State co-operative society and dividends thereon at such rates as may be specified by the Central Government or the State Government; (e) guarantee the repayment of principal and payment of interest on loans and advances to a multi-State co-operative society; (f) give financial assistance in any other form, including subsidies, to any multi-State co-operative society; and (g) provide aid to any other multi-State co-operative society on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed.