Terrace leakage

dear gita,

send legal notice to secretary of society to get repairs done asap.

Send legal notice to the Society. But what the Society can do?  If the Society has no funds what can the Society do even with a court order. You want the repairs to be done before the monsoon in June. Is there any court in India which will, if at all, move that fast?

Any advice or suggestion should be practicable. It is already too late. Is the leakage problem only in your flat?  What about the other top floor flats? If there are others also with the same grievance take them also along with you. At first the problem needs expert attention. Ask the Secretary to get an expert to identify the problem, prepare as estimate and the time required to complete the work. Has your Society  enough funds at least to pay the fees of the expert?

When a Society says that it has no funds, it does not necessarily mean that the bank balance of the Society is zero. A Society will have other expenditures like payment of taxes, electricity, water, salaries etc.

If you have got balance sheet of last year you can see under capital and liabilities various funds. Repair Fund and Reserves and Surplus can be used for your repair work. But sometimes these funds will be balanced by amounts due from debtors to the Society on the Assets side. These are only notional funds not available to the Society for use. Often the debtors will be defaulting members. How is the financial health of your Society. Do members pay their dues regularly to the Society?  Are the Managing Committee members active? 

If your Society has no funds, what can the General Body meeting do? If a big amount is required will members contribute their shares immediately in one lump sum. If at all the General Body approves the expenditure members will be allowed to pay in installments over a period of moths or years. Can you wait until then? Can your Society advance the amount first and then collect it from members? If you can advance the amount, you suggest to the Society that you shall give a loan to the Society and the Society can repay you later or adjust the amount from your monthly installments.

If willfully someone is not doing something a court can order him to do it. But if someone is not doing something because one doesn't have the wherewithal to do, what can the court do?