KATHMANDU, Jan 28: After its attempt to return public deposits stuck in troubled cooperatives by making amendment to Cooperatives Act failed, Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation (MoCPA) has said that it was introducing a provision of forming 'management committee' to look after the troubled cooperatives.
The erstwhile government had introduced similar provision in Cooperatives Act 1992 Amendment Bill. But it was not tabled in the parliament for approval.
The new provision of forming management committee is aimed at returning people's money parked at troubled cooperatives. As many as 2,962 people are still to get deposits of around Rs 10 billion from 150 troubled cooperatives.
A high-level probe commission formed under former Special Court Judge Gauri Bahadur Karki has concluded that these troubled cooperatives owe Rs 7.6 billion in principal and Rs 2.4 billion in interest amount to the depositors. The depositors have not been able to receive their money in the absence of proper mechanism and procedures to settle the assets and liabilities of the cooperatives.
The new provision is inserted in the new cooperatives bill in line with the recommendation made by the Karki-led commission.
The commission has recommended that the government bring a new law introducing a provision of 'management committee' to look after troubled cooperatives and return people's deposit. “
"We have retained the provision in the new cooperatives bill in line with the recommendation of Karki-led commissi”n," Shankar Adhikari, secretary at MoCPA, said.
According to ministry officials, the powerful committee will have an authority to take over the management and board of the troubled cooperatives and return people's deposits after recovering loans and selling its assets.“
"The new cooperative bill, which was tabled in the cabinet on Sunday, proposes introducing strict penalty to cooperative fraudste”s," an official of the ministry said without disclosing the nature and level of such punishment.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Chitra Bahadur KC have called for adopting better practices of cooperatives across the worl“. "There are cooperatives norms and principles which should be embraced to make our cooperatives bett”r," KC said, speaking at a press meet organized in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Referring to opposition made by some cooperative campaigners, he said that disputes were obvious while taking any initiativ“. "However, nothing is long-lasting. While the law goes into implementation, we can make necessary changes based on the practic”s," he added.
A section of cooperative leaders have said that the new cooperative bill aims to 'control' the cooperative sector which has been recognized by the constitution as the third pillar of the economy.
Officials say that the new bill proposes restricting board director from working as staffer of the cooperative including a number of good governance measures. Similarly, it has set a deposit ceiling which allows a depositor to deposit in the ratio of 1:10 which means a person holding a share will be allowed to deposit Rs 10 only. Similarly, it bars a member of one cooperative to take membership of another cooperative of similar nature. Likewise, there cannot be more than one members of a family while registering new cooperatives.
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