I am a resident of Thane with Tna/HSg.101 registration. Will you please guide me whether one can practice one’s profession from his residence in housing society with what restrictions and rule how.
I C Naik
Every member of Cooperative Housing Societies is to be issued an allotment letter. This letter is issued in the format as per relevant Appendix prescribed in the registered bye-laws of the concerned C H S. For example, the latest Model bye-laws released by the Hon. Commissioner for Cooperation and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, post 97CAAin November 2013 has provided in Appendix 12 a form of Allotment letter in terms of requirement under the Bye-laws No. 24 and 75 (a)). This form’s clause 12 reads as under:
“3. You may enjoy the right of occupation of the said flat / plot under the provisions of the Bye-law No. 24(a) of the bye-laws of the society.”
Bye-law No 24(a) provides:
“24. (a)The Member, who is deemed to have been allotted the flat under the Bye-law No. 75(a) of the Society shall have a right to occupy the flat subject to the terms and conditions set out in the letter in the prescribed form under the said bye-law.
(b)The Associate/Nominal Member may have a right to occupy the flat with the consent of the Member and written intimation to the Society, subject to the conditions set out by the General Body Meeting.”
Clause 5 of the Allotment letter is relevant for the purpose of answering your question. It reads as under:
- The Flat/ Bungalow allotted to you shall be used only for the purposes mentioned below. (State here the purpose for which the flat / plot in question allotted/ is deemed to have been allotted.)
Clause 6 is quite deadly. It reads as
- Any breach/breaches of the provision of the bye-laws of the Society which are considered by the Managing Committee of the Society as serious nature shall render you liable for expulsion from membership of the Society and consequently eviction from the flat/ plot.
This is not all. No member can be admitted to membership of the Society without an application there for having been made in the prescribed form. See relevant extract from Rule 19 of the MCR 1961:
- Conditions to be complied with for admission for membership, etc:- No person shall be admitted as a member of a society unless,—
(i) he has applied in writing in the form laid down by the society or in the form specified by the Registrar, if any, for membership;
Model 2014 bye-laws at Appendix 2 prescribes the form for application to join the Society as its member as required under Bye-law No 19(a). “I undertake to use the flat for the purpose for which it is purchased by me and that any change of user will be made with the prior approval of the Society. An undertaking to that effect in the prescribed form* is enclose herewith.
Member gives an undertaking not to change the user of the flat without prior approval of the Society. See the format of the undertaking at Appendix 3.
*In terms of requirement of the Bye-law 19(a)(iv)]
A Form of undertaking is to be furnished by the Prospective Member to use the flat for the purpose for which it is allotted.
I hope this complex way of going about is well understood by you. Not many cooperators take the trouble to understand bye-laws.
Very few housing societies issue Allotment Letter thanks to the writings in Bye-law No 75 extracted below:
“75 (a) The Member, person/firm who had purchased the flat under an agreement under Section 4 of the Ownership Flats Act, or acquired interest in the flat on transfer of the same by existing Member with previous permission of the Society, shall be deemed to have been allotted the same flat by the Society subject to the terms and conditions set out in the letter of allotment in the prescribed form, including subsequent modifications made by the Society”
Realizing this deficiency in the recently issued Ordinance (the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 effective from 9th March 2019 following provision has been made in an exclusive Chapter “CHAPTER XIII-B CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETIES namely:
“Section 154B-10 (2) Every Member of a housing society, whether registered before or after the commencement of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, to whom plot of land or dwelling units have been allotted, shall be issued certificate of allotment by the co-operative housing society under its seal and signature in such form as may be prescribed.* “