97th Constitutional Amendment Act, Objective, Key Details

Q: What is the 97th Constitutional Amendment Act?

The 97th Amendment, enacted in 2011, granted constitutional status and protection to cooperative societies in India.

Q: When did the 97th Constitutional Amendment come into force?

It came into effect on 15th February 2012.

Q: What was the main objective of the 97th Amendment?

To encourage the development of cooperative societies as democratic, autonomous, and professional institutions.

Q: Which part of the Constitution was amended by the 97th Amendment?

It amended Part III (Fundamental Rights), Part IV (Directive Principles), and added Part IXB to the Constitution.

After confirmation from the Supreme Court to a decision by Gujarat High Court in 2013 which invalidated some parts of the 97th Constitutional Amendment Act in 2011. Part IX was introduced to elaborate the terms of existing cooperative society. The act basically focused on overcoming the challenges and hurdles experienced by cooperative societies and tried to install effective techniques to manage them. Under the act, amendments were added to the words or co-operative societies after the words or unions in Article 19(i). Other than this, Article 43B was included to Part IV of the Indian Constitution which mentions that “the State shall endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control, and professional management of cooperative societies” and “the State shall endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control, and professional management of cooperative societies”. Part IX-B was added after IX-A. Article 243ZH through 243ZT was added to Part IX-B.

Also Check: 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act

97th Constitutional Amendment Act

The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act came into existence in 2011, for the first time, cooperative societies were given formal constitutional backing, elevating their status in the country’s political and economic framework. This amendment did three key things which includes, It made the right to form cooperative societies a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(c), putting it on par with the right to form unions or associations, It added Article 43B to the Directive Principles of State Policy, stating that the state shall promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control, and professional management of cooperative societies. It introduced Part IX-B (Articles 243-ZH to 243-ZT), which lays out the framework for how cooperative societies should function covering everything from the composition of their boards to their elections, audits, and dispute resolution.