Every cooperative housing society (CHS) has to hold an annual general meeting (AGM) according to the model bye-laws set in place by the government. Such meetings are designed to take stock of the yearly activities of the Society, keeping members apprised of the critical developments and overall financial accounts, thus fostering accountability, transparency and smooth functioning of the Society as a whole.
 
All pertinent issues are openly discussed, and every member's participation is encouraged to enable collectively agreeable solutions and a general sense of unity and cooperation. Before 2019, members who were absent from the Society's AGM for a consecutive period of three years were penalised and also deemed to be 'invalid' members. However, this rule has been scrapped and is no longer applicable. Members are still encouraged to attend the meetings, but their membership can not be deemed as valid or invalid based on their attendance in the AGMs. 
 
This is good news for members who are non-resident Indians (NRIs) or cannot attend the meetings due to other pressing obligations. However, the change in rule seems to have been missed by many CHSs who have continued to apply illegal penalty charges. This week, I will address one such problem.
 
We will also look at a case where a flat-owner has failed to submit on time, the share certificate for transfer from the previous owner and the possible solution that a managing committee can follow to address the delay. In another case, a Society has collected cleaning charges and a security deposit from a member before commencing renovation work but is now raising objections and attempting to stop the work. I shall explain how the member can amicably address Society's illegal harassment and complete the renovation work. 
 
Absentee Fee for Member's Non-attendance in AGMs
 
Question: My father owns a flat in Mumbai and has been regularly paying maintenance dues with no outstanding amount. He is now an NRI, has been residing with me in the UK for six to seven years, and cannot attend the Society's AGM. For the past three years, the Society has been charging an AGM absentee fee of Rs500 and even though we have disputed the charge, we are paying it to avoid unnecessary conflict. 
 
In the past, my father had requested the Secretary to conduct the AGM online so that he could participate, but the Secretary refused to do so, stating that they did not have the facilities or the capacity. In an upcoming AGM, the Society is planning to pass a resolution to render those members who have not attended the AGM for three years as 'inactive'. Can you please advise on a possible solution?
 
Answer: A Society cannot charge absentee fees to any member of a CHS for remaining absent in its AGM. Also, in  2019, the government removed the clause of making a member of a cooperative housing society into an active and inactive member.
 
If you have a written proof against the Society for the above two wrongs, then under the Bye-law No. 172, write a letter to your Society to refund Rs500 per year that you have already paid by adjusting that amount against the flat's maintenance charges. Since the government has removed the classification of members as active and inactive members depending on members' attendance in the AGM of the Society, such classification in your Society should also be stopped.
 
At the end of this complaint, you should write that if you do not get a reply to these two complaints within 15 days, you will make a complaint against the Society to the deputy registrar (DR) of cooperative societies of your area, under Bye-law No. 174(A)(xxii).
 
If you do not get a reply within 15 days of your complaint to the Society, make a separate complaint to the DR of cooperative societies of your area under Bye-law No. 174(A)(xxii). To ensure that the DR takes action on your complaint within 30 days, write an RTI (right to information) letter addressed to the DR office's public information officer (PIO) with a copy of your complaint attached to the DR. In this RTI letter, ask the PIO to provide information on the action taken by DR on your complaint to them. As PIO needs to reply to your RTI letter within 30 days, they will ask DR to take action on it within 30 days and answer it accordingly. 
 
By chance, if you get a reply from PIO that DR has not taken any action on your complaint, then against the DR, make a separate complaint to the district DR (DDR).
 
Simultaneously, you can make a Lokshahi Din Complaint (LDC) to the district collector (DC), who holds LDC hearing in his office in your presence and passes an order to do your work within a month.  
 
Delay in Submission of Share Certificate for Transfer from Original Owner
 
Question: A member purchased a flat in 2018, which was approved by the Society's managing committee at that time. However, the member had not submitted the share certificate for endorsing their name. After five years, they have now submitted it for transfer.
 
Who should sign the share certificate? The managing committee members who passed the resolution in 2018 or the present managing committee members who were not part of the MC in 2018?
 
Answer: Get a letter from the flat-owner explaining why he has not submitted his share certificate to endorse his name to the MC in 2018. In this letter, he should also provide a reason for submitting for transfer now, after a delay of five years. Both points should have a valid reason. 
 
If the flat-owner's reason is not tenable, then the managing committee will submit this transfer to the DR of cooperative societies for his permission to complete the transfer of the share certificate.
 
In your letter to the DR, you will enclose a photocopy of the following documents of the flat -
 
(1) Index-2 of the sale deed of the seller of the flat (seller agreement's Index-2, when he bought that flat, from his buyer or from the builder).
 
(2) Index-2 of the sale deed of the present flat owner from his seller. 
 
(3) Both side copies of the share certificate of the flat.
 
(4) Flat-owner's letter stating his reason for not giving his share certificate to the Society for transfer in 2018 and also the reason for the delay in giving his share certificate now, after five years. If the flat is bought in two or more joint owners' names, this letter should be in all the joint buyers names, with their signature.
 
In your letter, at the end, you should mention that if the DR does not object to this transfer of the share certificate within 30 days of this letter, then Society will complete the transfer process at the end of 30 days, condoning his delay of five years. In this case, the present managing committee will sign in the share transfer.
 
NOTE
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Society's Illegal Objection to Renovation Work
 
Question: In November 2022, I bought a 2 BHK flat in the Mumbai suburbs. I started the renovation work in my flat in January 2023, after submitting a letter to the Society in their prescribed format and paying monthly cleaning charges of Rs2,500 per month for the duration of the renovation work and also an Rs25,000 security deposit cheque. I have been following the society rule of no work between 2pm and 4pm and no noisy work on Sundays. It has been five months since renovation work has been going on and it may take another approximately three more weeks before the work is completed and I move into the flat.
 
But since June, the Secretary has been pressuring me to stop any noisy work and has sent a letter to me stating that I cannot continue furniture work or any noisy work beyond 14 June 2023 and that any noisy work can be carried out only between 5pm and 7pm. After which, the Society will not allow the work to continue.
 
Please advise whether the Society is allowed to take such action. It should be noted that there are two other flats in the Society where renovation work has been ongoing for the past three months. They have not received any such letter. We have tried to resolve the issue with the managing committee amicably, but they refuse to budge. 
 
Answer: It seems that your Society is unnecessarily harassing you for the renovation work in your flat.
 
Please write a letter to the managing committee asking them to state how renovation causes disturbance to the neighbours when you have paid all needful fees and deposits. Let the Secretary take any legal action against you by pointing to a specific complaint of nuisance caused by your flat's renovation work in Society. 
 
Get a certificate from the contractor responsible for your flat's renovation work, staying what are the work to be done and having worked within the working times as prescribed by the Society, how many more days it will take to complete your flat renovation work.
 
If your Society does not agree with the period stated by the flat renovation contractor, then under Bye-law No.174(B)(iii), make a complaint against the Society in a Cooperative Court. Here, you have to hire the services of an experienced advocate. 
 
Disclaimer: The guidance provided in these columns and on our Legal Helpline is on the sole basis of the facts provided by the reader/questioner and does not amount to formal legal advice in any form whatsoever. 
 
(Shirish Shanbhag has an MSc in Organic Chemistry, Diploma in Higher Education, and a Diploma in French and has completed his LL.B. in first class in 2021. Before his retirement, he was a junior college teacher at Patkar College from July 1980 to May 2012, teaching theoretical and practical chemistry. Post-retirement in 2012, he started providing guidance and counselling to people on several issues, specifically focusing on cooperative housing society-related matters. He has over 30 years of hands-on experience in all matters about housing societies and can provide out-of-box solutions for any practical issue.)