Chairman Or Secretary? Understanding Their Legal Roles In Housing Societies
· Free Press Journal
Every election in a co-operative housing society brings excitement, campaigning and aspirations, often without a clear understanding of the legal duties attached to office. Many members consider the chairman’s post the most powerful and prestigious. Legally, however, the secretary often carries the greater day-to-day responsibility.
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Under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, and the Model Bye-laws, the chairman is the society’s leader, while the secretary is the backbone of its administration.
Section 73 of the Act vests the management of a society’s affairs in the elected managing committee. The chairman heads the committee, presides over general body and managing committee meetings, ensures orderly proceedings, guides discussions, maintains discipline and supervises the implementation of collective decisions. The role is primarily one of leadership, coordination and oversight rather than daily administration.
The secretary functions as the society’s executive officer. Bye-laws 138 to 141 of the 2014 Model Bye-laws, as amended from time to time, assign the secretary several statutory and administrative duties. These include maintaining statutory registers, membership and share records, issuing notices, preparing agendas, recording minutes, preserving records, handling correspondence, implementing committee resolutions, coordinating statutory audits, filing mandatory returns, maintaining accounts and complying with directions issued by the Registrar.
Section 79 requires every society to maintain prescribed books, registers and records, a responsibility that in practice rests mainly with the secretary. Section 75 mandates that the annual general meeting be convened within the prescribed period, while Section 81 requires annual auditing of accounts. Ensuring timely compliance with these obligations is generally part of the secretary’s work.
The law also imposes duties on the managing committee and its office bearers. The Co-op Societies Act requires committee members to act honestly, diligently and in the society’s best interests.
The chairman does not exercise unilateral control. The managing committee is the collective decision-making authority. The chairman cannot exceed powers delegated by it, while the secretary must act within its resolutions. Both remain accountable to the committee, the general body and the law.
Many candidates discover only after election that these posts involve more than attending meetings or signing documents.
Prestige may accompany the chairman’s chair, but the heavier administrative responsibility often rests on the secretary’s desk.
(The Author is Director, OPD People’s Co-operative Bank, and is actively associated with various co-operative housing societies)