By Harshvardhan, the Subject Matter Expert at Edumarz
Solution: The word cooperative means working together and with others for a common purpose. The cooperative society is a voluntary association of persons, who join together with the motive of the welfare of the members. They are driven by the need to protect their economic interests in the face of possible exploitation at the hands of middlemen obsessed with the desire to earn greater profits. The cooperative society is compulsorily required to be registered under the Cooperative Societies Act 1912. The process of setting up a cooperative society is simple enough and at the most what is required is the consent of at least ten adult persons to form a society. The capital of a society is raised from its members through the issue of shares. Society acquires a distinct legal identity after its registration.
The characteristics of a cooperative society are listed below.
(i) Voluntary membership: The membership of a cooperative society is voluntary. A person is free to join a cooperative society, and can also leave anytime as per his desire. There cannot be any compulsion for him to join or quit society. Although procedurally a member is required to serve a notice before leaving the society, there is no compulsion to remain a member. Membership is open to all, irrespective of their religion, caste, and gender.
(ii) Legal status: Registration of a cooperative society is compulsory. This accords a separate identity to the society which is distinct from its members. Society can enter into contracts and hold property in its name, sue and be sued by others. As a result of being a separate legal entity, it is not affected by the entry or exit of its members.
(iii) Limited liability: The liability of the members of a cooperative society is limited to the extent of the amount contributed by them as capital. This defines the maximum risk that a member can be asked to bear.
(iv) Control: In a cooperative society, the power to take decisions lies in the hands of an elected managing committee. The right to vote gives the members a chance to choose the members who will constitute the managing committee and this lends the cooperative society a democratic character.
(v) Service motive: The cooperative society through its purpose lays emphasis on the values of mutual help and welfare. Hence, the motive of service dominates its work. If any surplus is generated as a result of its operations, it is distributed amongst the members as dividends in conformity with the bye-laws of the society.
The cooperative society offers many benefits to its members. Some of the advantages of the cooperative form of organisation are as follows.
(i) Equality in voting status: The principle of ‘one man one vote’ governs the cooperative society. Irrespective of the amount of capital contribution by a member, each member is entitled to equal voting rights.
(ii) Limited liability: The liability of members of a cooperative society is limited to the extent of their capital contribution. The personal assets of the members are, therefore, safe from being used to repay business debts.
(iii) Stable existence: Death, bankruptcy or insanity of the members do not affect the continuity of a cooperative society. A society, therefore, operates unaffected by any change in membership.
(iv) Economy in operations: The members generally offer honorary services to the society. As the focus is on the elimination of middlemen, this helps in reducing costs. The customers or producers themselves are members of the society, and hence the risk of bad debts is lower.
(v) Support from the government: The cooperative society exemplifies the idea of democracy and hence finds support from the Government in the form of low taxes, subsidies, and low-interest rates on loans.
(vi) Ease of formation: The cooperative society can be started with a minimum of ten members. The registration procedure is simple involving a few legal formalities. Its formation is governed by the provisions of the Cooperative Societies Act 1912.
The cooperative form of the organisation suffers from the following limitations:
(i) Limited resources: Resources of a cooperative society consists of capital contributions of the members with limited means. The low rate of dividend offered on investment also acts as a deterrent in attracting membership or more capital from the members.
(ii) Inefficiency in management: Cooperative societies are unable to attract and employ expert managers because of their inability to pay them high salaries. The members who offer honorary services on a voluntary basis are generally not professionally equipped to handle the management functions effectively
(iii) Lack of secrecy: As a result of open discussions in the meetings of members as well as disclosure obligations as per the Societies Act (7), it is difficult to maintain secrecy about the operations of a cooperative society.
(iv) Government control: In return for the privileges offered by the government, cooperative societies have to comply with several rules and regulations related to auditing of accounts, submission of accounts, etc. Interference in the functioning of the cooperative organisation through the control exercised by the state cooperative departments also negatively affects its freedom of operation.