Arbitrary rules harass Pune co-operative society residents

Arbitrary rules harass Pune co-operative society residents

 A number of co-operative housing societies see bitter fights and litigation between members because of serious differences over many issues.

A number of co-operative housing societies see bitter fights and litigation between members because of serious differences over many issues. Often, such issues are not given too much importance by the authorities, but to a suffering member, they become the cause of many problems.

Take the case of a society on NIBM Road, where some senior citizens objected to maintenance charges being calculated on per square foot rate, instead of a flat rate per apartment. “Since we are all using the same services such as lift and garbage collection regardless of the size of our flat, we proposed that the charges should be the same for all apartments,” said a senior citizen.

While there is a provision under the bye-laws to consider charging on flat rate, the committee was unwilling to take the members’ concern into account. When the member persisted, the lift to their top floor apartment was stopped, their water supply cut off and their garbage lay unpicked by the sanitary staff.

The deadlock was broken after the 85-year-old lodged a complaint with the senior citizens’ cell at the Pune Municipal Corporation. All this time, the couple had been duly paying all charges, albeit under protest.

What started as a disagreement regarding maintenance charges has today escalated into a litigation that is not only costing each party money, but also time and energy.

According to co-operative consultant and government approved administrator, Cyrus Shroff, the biggest problem plaguing housing societies in the city is that no one — including the managing committee (MC) members — knows the process of law that governs housing societies. “Everyone must know the law when they buy a house,” he said.

From his wide experience as a consultant, he believes that lack of knowledge of the law leads members to have a devil-may-care attitude. “No one turns up for general body meetings. Attendance in big societies is a dismal 10-15%. In elections, a show of hands is often considered enough to elect members, whereas the law clearly states that there should be a ballot system. In the long run, members don’t realise that they become party to the mess the elected managing committees create,” he said.

“In housing societies, issues are related to ego or money,” he said candidly. Sometimes unscrupulous people get themselves elected to committees and with their authority and control of a society’s finances, they may use their resources to misuse the funds.

“The members have two choices: either give up or fight. In fighting they have to spend money, time and so much effort, which can all be avoided if they consciously participate in the co-operative process,” said Shroff.