Observing that “numerous incongruities pervade the Karnataka Cooperative Societies (KCS) Act, 1959 and the KCS Rules, 1960”, the High Court of Karnataka has said that there is an imminent need to overhaul this law, which has become “a patchwork of a series of piecemeal amendments over the decades and no longer suited to the modern socio-economic environment”.
Pointing out that disputes relating to membership, disqualification, voter eligibility, appointment of administrators, and surcharge proceedings have time and again required judicial intervention in a large number of litigations to harmonise contradictory provisions of the KCS Act and the Rules, the court said recurring litigation indicated a systemic defect in the legislative framework itself.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj made these observations while dealing with voter list and other issues related to holding elections to a multi-purpose primary rural agricultural cooperative society, Idagundi in Yellapur taluk of Uttara Kannada district.
‘Reconciliation impossible’
“The courts have attempted to apply the principle of harmonious construction in resolving the issues under this law, but where reconciliation itself becomes impossible, legislative reform is the only viable solution,” the court said.
