Nitin Shetty
I had parked my 2nd bike in the society compound in the month on November 2014, the society sent my parents the maintenance bill in the month of Jan 2015 charging double the amount for the month of November and December 2014, stating that the MG committee has decided to increase the 2nd bike parking charges on 15th December 2015 hence the retrospective amount has been charged.
When my father (Sr. Citizen) gave an application with his thumb impression they rejected saying that the thumb impression has to be witnessed. My father gave another application with his thumb impression witnessed by his lawyer, they again declined the application stating that the thumb impression has to be witnessed only by a society member.
I wanted to know is it as per bye law that the thumb impression has to be witnessed by only the society member.
Can the society charge my father maintenance bill retrospective? Cos there are other members who have not been charged retrospective and the society is not ready to provide any explanation for the same.
Need your expert advice and guidance on the same.
I C Naik
There is nothing in bye-laws on who can witness a thump impression, but it is commonly understood that a witness knows the person to whose thump impression he is a witness. Witness provides his address and that is all. The Secretary is making a fuss and is of no consequence. Important is raising an invoice on member. This has to be strictly in accordance with set rules and is not within the power of MG Committee to make a decision as it thinks proper, though it may be so.
Bye Law 69(b) provides this:”The committee shall fix in respect of every flat the society charges on the basis laid down under the bye-laws-law No. 69(a) [ Model 2001& 2009 ]”
Bye Law 69(a) provides basis of apportioning society charges which includes a Sub-Clause (vii) ” Parking Charges : At the rate fixed by the general body of the society at its meeting under the bye-laws-law No. 85
And Bye-Law 85 reads: ”Every member having a scooter, a motorcycle, or an auto rickshaw shall obtain prior permission of the Committee for parking his vehicle in the compound of the society on payment of charges, fixed by the general body of the society as its meeting.
Rate for second scooter could be doubled but that has to be done by members in General Meeting and not in the Committee meeting.
What is the remedy for this grievance against the Committee?
There is a procedure prescribed under “Chapter XVIII REDRESSAL OF COMPLAINTS” having following bye-laws:
173.Member/Members shall submit their complaint application to any of the Office bearers of society, in writing, giving thereby the details of the complaint.
174.After receipt of such complaint application, the committee shall take decision thereof, in the coming Managing Committee meeting. Such decision shall be communicated to the concerned member, with in 15 days thereof.
175.If the Member/Members are not satisfied by the decision of the Committee, or does not receive any communication from the Committee , with in time limit specified above, he/they may approach the Competent Authorities depending upon the nature of complaints enumerated below:-
Competent Authority to hear this complaint is
[B] CO-OPERATIVE COURT
As this is a “Disputes between the members and society and falls under Section 91 of the Act, as listed below-
a.Resolutions of the Managing Committee and General Body
d.Parking
i.Excess Recovery of Dues from the members
There is one more procedure prescribed under Section 148(3) which is mandatory.
( 3) No prosecution under this Act shall be lodged, except with the previous sanction of the Registrar.
The first step now is to inform the Dy Registrar of your Ward that you (as a member) intend to make a complaint to the Cooperative Court for unauthorized parking charge being demanded by the Committee. And his permission was being asked for as required under Section 148(3). This is irritating but at times it helps solve issue before going to the Court. Dy Registrar writes to the Secretary if the Committee was prepared to address the complaint to member’s satisfaction or permission be granted to take it to the Court. This takes 2 months at least. If the excess charge is approved by the General Body Meeting it will apply to all members having second scotter.