KATHMANDU, Dec 1: The government is set to amend the existing laws soon to address the demands of cooperative victims.
The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation has started the process of amending the existing laws by creating necessary acts, regulations, and procedures to address the issues in this sector. According to the ministry's Joint Secretary and Spokesperson Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, the amended bill will be sent to the Cabinet and the government is preparing to issue it through an ordinance.
Cooperative victims stage demonstration in Kathmandu (In Pictur...
He said that the preparation of procedures is underway to provide the necessary authority to the Credit Information Bureau Nepal, Deposit and Credit Guarantee Fund, Debt Recovery Tribunal, and regulatory bodies.
The bill has been drafted after discussions with legal experts and stakeholders. The amended law prioritizes addressing the issues of problematic cooperatives and those involved in financial misconduct and fraud, with plans to auction and confiscate the assets of the concerned cooperatives. The aim is to provide justice to the victims by distributing the amounts in proportion to their deposits.
In line with cooperative principles, the procedures for self-regulation of cooperative unions and organizations have been strengthened. The procedures emphasize the role of federal, provincial, and local governments in cooperative development. The federal government will provide necessary regulatory, promotional, and training services to the cooperative bodies at the provincial and local levels.
Due to the lack of proper laws, it was not possible to recover assets from the perpetrators and return deposits to victims, even when depositors in cooperatives could not withdraw their savings. It has been reported that over 34,000 cooperative organizations are operating in all provinces, districts, municipalities, and rural municipalities, involving small farmers, workers, consumers, and the poor. About 7 million people are engaged in this sector.
