The Registrar is, under the Act, given the responsibility of ensuring that the accounts of all PNs are audited regularly. He will carry out this responsibility through members of their own staff, or he will agree to the appointment of commercial auditors. In either case, it is the Registrar who is responsible and who must approve the accounts before they are presented to the members or published. This power protects the individual members, who may not, themselves, have the knowledge to ensure that the accounts are properly kept. In addition, however, it gives power to the Registrar, because it gives him access to knowledge. From the audited account, he knows the state of health of PN, and knows whether to exercise any of the other powers which the Act gives him.
The Act gives the Registrar powers to inspect a PN at any time. The Registrar can hold an inquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition of a registered PN based on his own motion, the application of a majority of the Board or of not less than one-third of the members. PN is required to produce any books, accounts, papers, securities of the PN and furnish the Registrar or some person authorized by him with such information. After considering the facts disclosed in such an inquiry or inspection, the Registrar has the power to order
the suspension of all or any of the activities of PN; and
the suspension or disolution of the Board of Directors of the PN.
Disputes arising from the business of a PN, whether
between one member and another;
between one member and the PN, its Board or any officer of the PN;
between the PN or its Board and any officer of the PN or;
between the PN and any other PN or any other registered society,
cannot, under the Act, be taken to a normal civil court. They must be referred to the Registrar, who can either try the matter himself, or appoint an arbitrator.
The Registrar's decisions in these cases are final, and cannot be called into question in a civil court. This provision of the Act is beneficial to the cooperative movement in that it provides cheap and speedy machinery to settle disputes, avoiding the expensive and time-consuming process of hiring lawyers and going to court. Lawyers are not allowed to take part in arbitration proceedings. It means that the Act gives considerable powers to the Registrar to take decisions in the overall interest of PN's activities.
Just as the Registrar has the power to register a PN, so has he the power to close it down. He may do so on any grounds. It may be that the PN is no longer operating in accordance with the Act or cooperative principles. It may be that the number of members has fallen below the minimum; PN has gone bankrupt; PN has been amalgamated with other PN, etc. When the Registrar decides to close down a PN, he makes an order putting it into liquidation, and appointing a liquidator. The liquidator takes over all assets and liabilities and is responsible, under the Act, for winding up the PN's affairs to the best advantage of all concerned, and with a special regard to the PN's creditors.
As with registration, there is provision in the Act for appeal to the Minister within 21 days from the date of such order, against a decision of the Registrar to close down a PN, and the decision of the Minister will be final and conclusive.
If PN is in serious trouble, the Act allows the Registrar actually to intervine in the management of PN. For example, if the conclusion of an inquiry and inspection is that the PN is badly managed, the Registrar may suspend all or any of the activities of the PN, or suspend or desolve the Board of Directors of PN. The Registrar may also appoint a manager of his own choosing until a new Board of Directors has been elected under the constitution of the PN. The objective of the intervention of the Registrar is to rescue a PN which has got into trouble which might otherwise lead to its liquidation.
The government, through the Registrar who is the Director-General of LKIM, has considerable powers over the PN management. Government control is not only concerned with the intervention in management, but also it may go even further than that, even to the extent of making PN membership virtually compulsory in certain occassions (e.g. grant of government loans, insurances, etc). The government also dictates PN policy (e.g. prohibition of creation of new fishermen's cooperative societies). Since the government sees PN as an integral part of government policy, the control tends to be great. The government tends to demand overiding control, of there is a large amount of government money invested in PN development. However, this does not mean that the government dominates PN, on the contrary, democratic control and members' voluntary participation have been encouraged and fully guaranteed by the government.
