Legal barriers on new Cooperative law lifted

In a major relief to the state government, the Orissa High Court today dismissed all writ petitions which had challenged the new law on cooperative societies and self-help groups.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice A K Goel and Justice A K Rath dismissed all the writ petitions and vacated the interim stay it had imposed on the new cooperative law on September 6, 2013.
The High Court restrained the state government from taking any action on the basis of the new law for three months.
After repealing the Odisha Cooperative Societies Act, the government last year had promulgated Odisha Self-help Cooperative (Repeal) Ordinance, which subsequently took the shape of an Act.

The intention of the Act was to bring the formation and management of nearly 2,000 SHGs and Cooperative Societies under the control of the state government.
Challenging the Ordinance and the subsequent Act, more than a dozen petitions were filed in the High Court in which the petitioners had argued that the intentions of the government was against the spirit of an earlier judgement of the Supreme Court as they violated the rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) C of the Constitution.
The High Court in September last year had slapped a stay on the operation of the 2013 Ordinance and had issued notices to the state government asking the Chief Secretary, Law Secretary and Registrar of Cooperative Societies to file counter affidavits.