Kerala cooperative societies set to hike fees

Thiruvananthapuram: In order to overcome the financial crisis, the government is increasing the fees charged by the cooperatives. Many fees will be increased fivefold. To facilitate this, a recommendation to amend the Cooperative Societies Act will be made to the government. 

A provision to downgrade cooperatives in classification if they do not pay the higher rates, is also likely to be introduced. The salary and other benefits of the employees of each cooperative is based on this classification.

Recommended fee rate

1. Maximum audit fee will increase from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Audit fee is deciphered as 50 pise per Rs 100  based on either  working capital, turnover or gross income. 
2. The fee for primary cooperatives will be increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh. The fee for the groups with working capital above Rs 10 crore will be reduced from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. 
3. The minimum fee for cases regarding financial disputes will be increased from Rs 200 to Rs 500. 

• Upto Rs 2 lakh- Rs 5,000
• Rs 2-10 lakh- Rs 7,000
• Above Rs 10 lakh- Rs 10,000

1. The fee for registering complaints of cooperative workers will be increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.
2. Fees for election related complaints will go from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.
3. The fee for submitting an appeal to the Registrar of cooperative societies will be increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.
4. Application fee for allotment of branch for primary cooperative societies will be increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000.
5. Application fee for renewal of classification of groups will be increased from Rs 2,000 To Rs 5,000.