Centre cannot interfere in state cooperative sector: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai, July 11: Union government cannot interfere in the functioning of the Maharashtra state cooperative sector, asserted NCP president Sharad Pawar on Sunday.

Speaking for the first time on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to form a separate cooperation ministry, the concept is not new, but the Centre cannot interfere in the state's cooperative sector, Pawar told reporters in Baramati town here.

"All the cooperative societies in the state are governed by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Act. The laws are passed in the state legislative assembly and council. Under this Act, the state government has the right to frame policies and enforce them in the sector," Pawar said.

"The rules of the central and state governments are very well demarcated. They cannot interfere in each other's jurisdiction. The centre's role is restricted to multi-state cooperative banks. I have been coming across reports citing how the creation of a separate cooperation ministry was solely to undermine or regulate state cooperatives. But all these assumptions are baseless," Pawar added.

He said taking a decision on such a multi-state cooperative institution comes under the central government's cooperation department. "This is not a new decision as such. It was there when I was in the central government. But, unfortunately, the media is painting a different picture that the Centre's Ministry of Cooperation may hijack or end the cooperative movement in Maharashtra," he said.

The central government recently carved out a new ministry for cooperation, which earlier was a small department in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Union minister Amit Shah, who has been given the charge of the newly-created ministry, on Saturday said the government is determined to make cooperatives and all cooperative institutions more empowered. To a query on the Uniform Civil Code, Pawar said, "I can't comment on it till the central government takes any decision. We are waiting for the central government's take on it. Once they clear it, only then we can say something."

with PTI inputs