Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said on Sunday there was no truth to reports claiming that the newly created Union Ministry of Cooperation was creating problems in Maharashtra as the matter constitutionally belongs to the state government.
“Laws regarding the cooperation sector are framed in the Maharashtra Assembly. The Centre has no right to interfere in the laws drafted by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,” Pawar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Pawar, whose party is in a ruling alliance with the Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra, hit out at claims that the Centre is trying to "hijack the cooperative movement" in the state. He told reporters in Baramati the concept is not new, but the Centre cannot interfere in the state's cooperative sector. “It was there when I was in the central government. Unfortunately, the media is painting a different picture,” he said.
"As per the Constitution, cooperative institutions registered in a state come under the (jurisdiction of that respective) state," the former Union minister said, adding the Centre's newly formed ministry is about multi-state cooperative institutions.
“A state cannot control a cooperative institution registered in more than one state, which is called multi-state, and the central government has control over it," said Pawar. He said taking a decision on such a multi-state cooperative institution comes under the central government's purview.
{{/usCountry}}“A state cannot control a cooperative institution registered in more than one state, which is called multi-state, and the central government has control over it," said Pawar. He said taking a decision on such a multi-state cooperative institution comes under the central government's purview.
{{/usCountry}}The Narendra Modi-led NDA government recently carved out the new ministry, 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 ministry, said the government is determined to make cooperatives and all cooperative institutions more empowered.
(With agency inputs)