Punjab govt issues notices to cooperatives to recover dues, expects to collect `1,000 crore

A government commune said the non-remittance of these dues constitutes “a serious breach of trust on the part of managing committees and office bearers.

These dues include External Development Charges (EDC), Change of Land Use (CLU) charges, and other statutory payments.

Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) Girish Dayalan, on Monday, ordered issuing notices to cooperative housing societies, which have not remitted statutory dues to respective urban development authorities, despite having collected these amounts from the members, and set a 21-day deadline for them to clear outstanding amounts.

The cash-crunched Punjab government expects to raise Rs 1,000 crore from such dues. These dues include External Development Charges (EDC), Change of Land Use (CLU) charges, and other statutory payments. Where individual members have not paid their share, the managing committee must ensure recovery and deposit of the same within 30 days. Each society must furnish a “No-Dues Certificate” from the authority concerned to the Registrar’s office within 30 days.

An RCS source said that if the societies failed to follow the deadline, the RCS could order superseding of the committee and appoint an administrator, and then clear the dues from the societies’ accounts.

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A government commune said the non-remittance of these dues constitutes “a serious breach of trust on the part of managing committees and office bearers. Such defaults not only endanger the legal standing of the societies but also put the interests of their members at risk”.

“The failure to comply with these directions shall be treated as persistent default or negligence under Section 27 of the Cooperative Societies Act. Strict action, including but not limited to, supersession of the managing committee, will be initiated in case of non-compliance,” it warned. Dayalan said, “These measures are being undertaken in the larger public interest to protect the rights of members and to ensure transparency and accountability in the functioning of cooperative housing societies.”

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