Law planned to take land back from some societies

The state government is all set to bring in a new Cooperatives Act to check irregularities in mutually aided cooperative societies, especially in the matter of land allotment.

The MACS Act does not have a provision to take back land in case of irregularities. The proposed law will empower the revenue department to take back land from societies.

The old Act is for 1964 vintage. Post-bifurcation, the cooperative sector has continued to adopt not only the 1964 legislation but also the Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act, 1995 that was enacted in the undivided state.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has mooted the idea of merging the MACS Act into the newly proposed TS Cooperative Societies Act.

Previous governments had sanctioned land to various MACS for projects like group housing and dairy farms. But there were largescale complaints about irregularities in plot allotment.

Whenever there was a move to take action against any society, it would move court and get stay orders on the ground that the government had no power to take back the land.

The draft Bill was referred to the law department which recommended certain changes to avoid legal problems. “The Bill could be passed in the Budget Session of the Legislature in February or March, an officer said.