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33 Dhaka Univ. L.J. 1 (2022)
The Co-Operative Societies Law in Bangladesh: From Hope of Autonomy to Dependence

handle is hein.journals/dkauvylw33 and id is 9 raw text is: © Dhaka University Law Journal, 2022, 33(1), 1-22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/dulj.v33i1.61506 The Co-operative Societies Law in Bangladesh: From Hope of Autonomy to Dependence Md. Rizwanul Islam* and Nafiz Ahmed** Abstract: The framers of the Constitution of the People's Republic ofBangladesh have clearly demonstrated their intention to provide for an autonomous and democratically controlled co-operative societies movement for propelling the economic development of those who are directly dependent on the relevant industries. However; this article finds that co-operative societies law in Bangladesh have clearly drifted from ensuring the autonomy of members and the existing legal framework hardly reflects the intention of the framers of the Constitution and the principles upon which the co-operative societies movement is founded. A thorough analysis of the existing legal framework shows that the bureaucratic control over the co-operative societies granted by the laws has set the bureaucrats on the driver's seat instead of the members. This paper argues some of the existing statutory provisions on co-operative societies in Bangladesh may be re-thought. Keywords: Bangladesh, Co-operative society, Bureaucracy, Administrative law. 1. Background The framers of the Constitution of Bangladesh have underscored the importance of co-operative societies in clear terms. Article 13(b) of the Constitution of Bangladesh provides for three different kinds of ownership: state, co-operative, and personal. The framers of the Constitution of Bangladesh clearly envisioned co-operative societies as a means to economic upliftment of the people of Bangladesh. The father of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, himself envisioned the co-operative initiatives as means of economic emancipation of the smallholding farmers, carpenters, fishers, working-class etc. by the accumulation of capital and other factors of production and the industrialization of rural Bangladesh.1 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was perceived as the ultimate hero of the * Professor, Department of Law, North South University. ** Lecturer Department of Law, North South University. The authors gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Mashrur Ahmed Zidane. The paper is a substantially revised version of a study commissionedby the Association for Land Reforms and Development (ALRD), Bangladesh. , Creative Commons Non Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is properly cited 1 Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, 'Speech at Bangladesh National Co-operative Union Conference' (Dhaka, 3 June 1972) <http://www.sfdf.org.bd/site/page/c473555e-25ac-4f8c-be7f-

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