MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES AND CO OPERATIVE LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETIES

Definitions.

95. (1) In this Part,¬ before the date of commencement of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, -

(a) "Mutual Insurance Company" means an insurer, being a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1913 (7 of 1913), or under the Indian Companies Act, l882 (6 of 1882), or under the Indian Companies Act, 1866 (10 of 1866) or under any Act, repealed thereby, which has no share capital and of which by its constitution only and all policy holders are members;

and

(b) "Co operative Life Insurance Society" means an insurer being a society registered under the Co operative Societies Act, 1912 (2 of 1912) or under an Act of a State Legislature governing the registration of co¬operative societies which carries on the business of life insurance and which has no share capital on which dividend or bonus is payable and of which by its constitution only original members on whose application the society is registered and all policy holders are members:

Provided that any co operative life insurance society in existence at the commencement of this Act shall be allowed a period of one year to comply with the provisions of this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub section (1), other co¬operative societies may be admitted as members of a co operative life insurance society, without being eligible to any dividend, profit or bonus.

(3) A State Government may, subject to any rules made by the Central Government, empower the Registrar of Co operative Societies of the State to register co operative societies for the insurance of cattle or crops or both under the provisions of the Co operative Societies Act in force in the State.

(4) A State Government may make rules not inconsistent with any rules made by the Central Government to govern such societies, and the provisions of this Act, in so far as they are inconsistent with those rules, shall not apply to such societies.

Application of Act to Mutual Insurance Companies and Co operative Life Insurance Societies

96. The provisions of Sections 6 and 7 and of sub section (2) of Section 20, so far as those provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of this part, shall not apply, and the provisions of this Part shall apply, to co operative life insurance societies.

Working capital of Mutual Insurance Companies and Co operative Life Insurance Societies

97. No co operative life insurance society registered after the 26th day of January, 1937 under the Co operative Societies Act, 1912 (2 of 1912) or under an Act of a State Legislature governing the registration of co operative societies shall be registered under this Act, unless it has as working capital a sum of fifteen thousand rupees, exclusive of the deposit to be made before or at the time of application for registration in accordance with sub section (2) of Section 98 of this Act and of the preliminary expenses, if any, incurred in the formation of the company or society.

Deposit to be made by Mutual Insurance Companies and Co operative Life Insurance Societies

98. (1) Everyday Co operative Life Insurance Society shall, in respect of the life insurance business carried on by it in India, deposit and keep deposited with one of the offices in India, of the Reserve Bank of India for and on behalf of the Central Government, a sum of two hundred thousand rupees in cash or in approved securities estimated at the market value of the securities on the day of deposit.

(2) The deposit referred to in sub section (1) may be made in instalments, of which the first shall be a payment, made before or at the time the application for registration under this Act is made, of not less than twenty ¬five thousand rupees or such sum as with any deposit previously made by the insurer under the provisions of the Indian Life Assurance Companies Act, 1912 (6 of 1912), brings the amount deposited up to not less than twenty five thousand rupees, and the subsequent instalments shall be annual instalments made before the expiry of each subsequent calendar year of an amount in cash or in approved securities estimated at the marked value of the securities on the day of payment of the instalment, equal to not less than one third of the premium income in the preceding calendar year as shown in the revenue account.

(3) The provisions of sub section (7) of Section 7 shall apply in respect of a co operative life insurance society as if for the words "under the foregoing provisions of this section" the words and figures "under the provisions of Sec. 98" were substituted.

Prohibition of loans

98A. The provisions of Section 29 shall apply to co¬operative life insurance societies as they apply to other insurers.

Transferees and assignees of policies not to become members

99. No transferee or assignee of a policy issued by an insurer to whom this Part applies shall become a member of a mutual insurance company or a cooperative life insurance society merely by reason of any such transfer or assignment.

Publication of notices and documents of Mutual Insurance Companies and Cooperative Life Insurance Societies

100. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 79 and 131 of the Indian Companies Act, 1913 (7 of 1913), a mutual insurance company or a co operative life insurance society may, instead of sending the notices and the copies of the balance sheet, revenue account and other documents which they are required to send to the members under those sections, publish such notice together with a summary in the prescribed form of the balance sheet and revenue account once in a newspaper published in the English language and in a newspaper published in an Indian language circulating in the place where the principal office of the company is situated:

Provided that, where any members of the company are domiciled in a State other than that in which the principal office of the company is situated, publication of the notice of the meetings shall made in a newspaper or newspapers published in the principal languages of that State and circulating therein and any member of the company domiciled in that State shall be entitled on application to the company to receive from it a copy of the balance sheet and revenue account.

Supply of documents to members

101. Every mutual insurance company and every Co operative Life Insurance Society shall, on the application of any members made within two years from the date on which any such document is furnished to the Registrar of Companies under the provisions of Section 134 of the Indian Companies Act, 1913 (7 of 1913), or to the Registrar of Co operative Societies of the State in which the Co operative Life Insurance Society is registered furnish a copy of the document free of cost to the member within fourteen days of the application.