Punjab Co-operatives Minister Colonel Muhammad Anwar (Retd) has said that the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act, 1925 is being amended to meet the present day needs. While addressing a press conference here on Monday, Anwar said that a bill of amended law has already been presented in the provincial assembly.
He said that about 31 amendments had been made in the act, bringing the more sectors, like housing, under its purview.
Enumerating the amendments in the law, he hoped that the amendments made in the Act would go a long way in restoring the confidence of people in the co-operative bodies. He said that internal and external audit of the societies had been made mandatory under the proposed amendment.
Talking about the number of housing societies in the province, he said that some 268 societies of this category were registered in the province. Of these, only 145 had adopted the by-laws while 37 were under-liquidation, he added.
He said that the co-operative department had sent the cases of 13 housing societies, including Wapda Society, Sargodha Society, Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi Housing Society, Aitchison Housing Society, Lahore, Government Officers' Society, Lahore, Employees Society, Lahore, National Co-operative Society, Lahore, Government Superior Society, Lahore, Park View Housing Society Lahore, Gulshan Society, Lahore, Common Services Society Lahore, Local Government Society, Lahore and the Co-operative Housing Society, Lahore, to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).