Co-operative Societies Act.

The Act consists of 53 sections divided into 10 Parts: Preliminary (I); Registration (II); Duties and privileges of societies (III); Rights and liabilities of members (IV); Property and funds of registered societies (V); Audit, inspection and inquiry (VI); Dissolution (VIII); Disputes (VIII); Rules (IX); Miscellaneous (X).
A Registrar of Cooperative Societies shall be appointed under section 3. Cooperative societies may be registered in accordance with section 4 and provisions of this Act. The Registrar may decide whether the society shall be registered with or without limited liability. A society which has at least one other registered society as a member shall always be with limited liability. A society shall have at least ten members qualifying as such under section 20 (sect. 5). Disposal of produce to or through a registered society shall be regulated in its by-laws or by contracting with its members (sect. 13). Section 14 concerns the creation of charges in favour of a registered society on agricultural produce, forest products, aquaculture products, equipment of members. Section 33 provides for control functions of the registrar in respect of the operation of societies. The Registrar shall the responsible for the resolution of disputes submitted to him or her under section 43. Regulation making powers of the Minister are set out in section 46.