Amit Verma (Advocate) 06 October 2014

Gundism by managing committee of co-operative society

i am member of cooperative group housing society having flat on top floor, formal request has been made to managing committee 3 years back, to take care and maintenance of roof having leakage which is responsibility of MC under Rule 105 of DCS Rule 2007, no action taken by MC , hence maintenance charges stopped to pay, after that MC agreed to repair but only temporary patch work, which i refused to allow, after 2 years again MC agreed to do the said maintenance work subjected to clearance of all dues with penalty on late payment @ rate of 30% p.a, i sent maintenance cheque but refused to pay any penalty on the ground that such situation arise due to negligence of society and moreover i had spent Rs.25,000/- in two years just to maintain my interiors of house damaged due to leakage of roof.

The society returned the cheuqe sent on a/c of maintenance charge and sent me notice for withdrawal of common facilities e.g. power back-up, collection of garbage, emergency services of electrician and plumber and to some extent restricted free entry to my own flat and put one notice addressed to me on various notice board of society to defame me,

formal complaint has been made to police, no action taken by the police

i had also requested the MC to supply me all accounts but not provided, fund of society mis applied in non essential thing like rebuilding of parking space

my question what are the procedure / process should i adopt to fix errant managing committee who had put my life and my property in danger,

whether society has power to withdraw essential services as above instead of referring the matter to Registrar of society for settlement of dispute or recovery of dues?

whether case has been filed for intentional littering by not allowing sweeper to collect garbage if yes whom should be contacted, my complaint to MCD maintainable

the fire fighting system is not working since long whom should i make complaint for that

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6 Replies

Dr J C Vashista (Advocate) 06 October 2014

1. Apply to Registrar Cooperative Societies, Parliament Street, New Delhi for arbitration, but you will have to clear maintenance payments. There is a set procedure for redressal of such grievances

2. Yes, the society can withdraw the facilties if the member do not pay maintenance in time. Even the society can initiate expulsion proceeding for persistant default in payment of maintenance.

3. Consult local lawyer well versed with the provions of DCS Act, 2003 as well as DCS Rules 2007.

K.K.Ganguly (Advocate) 06 October 2014

1. It is to be understood that the Society is not a service provider providing service to a consumer,

2. It is a non profitable body voluntarily formed for maintaining all the flats of its members including yours and it is governed by law, rules and also decisions taken by the majority of the members attending the meetings called for to decide relevant issues,

3. You can not stop payment of maintenance and demand maintenance of your flat by the society, cost of which will be borne by other members,

4. Similarly, the society also can not stop providing essential services without due process of law,

5. This type of animosity with the Society where you reside, leads to NO WIN situation,

6. Amicable settlement with the Society is suggested as dispute with the society by top floor residents on account of non repair of water leackage from roof is a problem in almost all the housing societies of our Country,

7. Most of the cases, the top floor residents demand immediate repair leaving other expenditures and the residents of other floors demand that the leackage problem is exaggeration of facts and do not require such serious attention as claimed. A compromise between these two stands is required,

8. In our Society, the top floor residents agreed to bear 50% cost of the roof repair.

Amit Verma (Advocate) 07 October 2014

in my case situation is something different, almost three years back request has been made, due to seepage i have to spent Rs.25,000/- due to negligence of MC.

last year MC raised about Rs.40 lacs for development work for different work, but maintenance of roof not carried out.

The next important thing was i sent cheque towards maintenance which society refused to accept and returned with covering letter saying maintenance cheque not include penalty charge on late payment and in my view society can not refused to accept any amount come on a/c of maintenance.

My contention was (1) there was no late payment since it was MC who created situation for non payment (2) late payment charge fixed @30% p.a. is in contravention to DCS Rule 2007 which say about penalty maximum @15% p.a., hence circular of society on penalty is void abinitio and there is no circular exist on late payment

if there was default in payment of maintenance the society can file recovery proceeding as provided in DCS Rule through registrar and discontinuation of essential services is illegal.

Can i approach civil court for mandatory injunction and recovery of damage and compensation due to seepage or i have only choice to approach Registrar

K.K.Ganguly (Advocate) 07 October 2014

1. You are right in stating that the society can not stop the essential services without due process of law,

2. It should have initiated recovery proceeding against you and waited for the order. They have erred in taking their arbitrary decision,

3. Similarly, you have treated the society as a Govt. body formed to take care of your roof and if they fail to do so, it is their negligence for which you can arbitraily stop paying your maintenance amount which is paid for maintenance including providing essential services,

4. My view is that the society will prioritise its maintenance as per the decision taken in the general body meeting. If majority of the members refuse to pay for your roof repair in place of other maintenance works, then it can not be forced upon them,

5. The Society has raised Rs.40 Lakhs for development work but the job of roof repair does not fall under the category of development work. Moreover, the development works might have been already listed/scheduled as per decision passed in G.B./S.B. Meeting where you had chance to add roof cementing/plastering (of all the roofs) as one of the development works,

6. Charging penalty beyond permitted limit is illegal. You should have sent additional cheque for penalty @15% annum to be legally correct in the matter,

7. Stopping of payment of maintenance amount on some pretext, true or false, is not the legal remedy. If all the members take this step (since all might have some grievance or other), then provision of essential facilities for all will be automatically stopped for want of fund,

8. I suggest that you raise your points in the general body meetings being supported by similar sufferers residing at the top floors and try to pass a resolution to get the roofs repaired by the society,

9. Lastly, the amount of money you are expected to spend in Court may be more than the amount which will be required to get your roof repaired,

10. Decision is yours.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 11 October 2014

To disconnect the essential services is illegal, the society cannot take a decision on its own this way. Default in payment of maintenance amount is not a heinous crime, there is a provision to collect the same with penalty hence cutting of the essential amenities is in now way justified. You may issue a lawyer's notice demanding your relief, in case it fails to invoke any response, you may approach the cooperative court for remedy.