Punjab Govt orders Audit of 19,000 Co-op Societies across State
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The order has been issued by the Special Chief Secretary, Cooperatives, asking for immediate compliance from the department.
Following this, Registrar Vimal Kumar Setia also held a meeting with the Chief Auditor of the department today to chalk out a strategy for finishing the audit of all societies.
It is learnt that a decision to conduct the audit of all societies was taken after it came to light that in the past, only 65 per cent of the cooperative societies were audited, which had increased to 93 per cent last year.
There have also been allegations that some of these societies are extending loans to non members without seeking the approval of the Registrar. There have also been cases of members not returning the term loans on time. These are the reasons for almost 50 per cent of the societies running into losses. Under Section 17 of the Cooperatives Societies Act, it is mandatory for the Registrar to get the societies audited at least once a year.
Setia, however, said the audit of all societies was regularly done as a routine matter. “Even now, we have completed audit of 98 per cent societies and of the remaining societies will be completed soon,” he said, adding that the societies are audited in a cyclical manner.
It is learnt that each of these societies has a capital ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. They give crop loans to their members twice a year - for the Rabi and the Kharif crops. Since the loan taken from the cooperative society is relatively hassle-free (as compared to banks and other financial institutions), members of these societies prefer to take loans from them, while also getting an interest subvention of 3 per cent. The loan from the societies includes the cash component and also the agriculture inputs like urea and DAP.
Other than this, the cooperative societies also sell fertilisers to farmers. Besides, they also own many large agricultural implements which are given to the members for use. Many societies had recently purchased stubble management systems, rotavators and balers, etc which are meant for collective use of all members. It is learnt that the audit of these machines and trade activities of the cooperative societies will also be carried out.
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