Query from Kiran Achalkar

Our society has six buildings & 21 shops.But society is only one. Out of six buildings only four buildings have lifts. Two buildings do not have lifts.

Now we have to go for major repairs of four lifts & will cost us 10 lakhs. Please let me know the cost of repairing of the lift is to be borne equally by total number of members of four buildings with lifts & also to be borne by members of two buildings without lifts & shops.

I C Naik

Views expressed by the Registrar’s office is not backed by any provisions of the M C S Act 1960  or election Rules:

1. Section 73CB14(2) and
2. Rule 74 of The Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Election to Committee) Rules, 2014

are attracted.

These views are mis-guiding the committees to go in for administrator. No member need to resign within five years under any circumstances unless (i) disqualified as per law or (ii) one wants to quit willingly.

They are the least informed people about new cooperative law and they give any advice so that you get frightened and come round to their terms. Tions to ask 6 members to resign and then see whether you get it. Try asking a written instruction.  In fact it is not the Dy. Registrar who is primarily concerned with filling up casual vacancies. These powers are segregated in to other Authority called “THE STATE COOPERATIVE ELECTION AUTHORITY “ DR office people are not the permanent spokesmen of S C E A. Only after the DR is officially appointed “Ward Cooperative Election Officer” based on the need, by a written order issued by the S C E A,the DR comes in to election process. This leads to the delay in filling up casual vacancies but that is the law to safeguard interests of housing societies providing freedom to members to elect their representatives.

Filling up Casual Vacancies has nothing to do with the strength of quorum as specified in Bye-Laws.

1. The Committee can exercise powers if it satisfies the requirement of Section 73 of the M C S Act 1960 namely “(1) The management of every society shall vest in a committee, constituted in accordance with this Act, the rules and by-laws, which shall exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be conferred or imposed respectively by this Act, the rules and the by-laws.”
2. As per Section 73AAA(1) strength of the Committee is  as specified in the Bye-Laws, subject to Reservations of seats (2 & 3) to represent the women/S C & S T  members of the society in the Management Committee. If there are no women members /S C & S T who will represent whom,(??) nobody knows and the reservations must stand quashed. That is the correct reading of reservation provision. In such a situation the cooperative Department lawyers seem to believe that the society lost that many seats of the Committee’s strength stated in  its Bye-Laws. The Returning officers are advised accordingly. They go by it religiously. This matter of faulty thinking will be resolved when it reached the Supreme Court of India, if at all. In the meanwhile the Department (sub-consciously) compensates for this loss by reckoning the strength as per 2014 Model Bye-Laws and not as per your society’s Bye-Laws which is fixed higher to provide for the reservations.

What I wrote has perhaps not given you any guidance I know. May  be  confused further.

My advice is:

1. Your Hon. Secretary   should take action as required by law, vide provisions of Sub-section (14) of Section 76CB extracted below:

(14)The committee of every co-operative society shall, –

(a)     inform the State Co-operative Election Authority about the expiry of its term of office at-least six months before the date of expiry of such term;

(b)inform any casual vacancy occurred in the committee or its office bearers, within fifteen days of the occurrence of such vacancy;

(c) furnish such books, records and information as the State Co-operative Election Authority may require as per the calendar specified by the State Co-operative Election Authority;

(d)provide all necessary help, assistance and co-operation for the smooth preparation of electoral rolls for the conduct of elections.

These provisions are further elaborated in Rule 74 of The Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Election to Committee) Rules, 2014 extracted below:

“74. Casual vacancies.- (1) In the event of the vacancy occurring on account of death, resignation, disqualification or removal of a elected committee member of a society or through such a member becoming incapable of acting prior to the expiry of his term of office or otherwise, the committee of the society shall forthwith communicate the occurrence of such vacancies to the State Co-operation Election Authority and District Co-operation Election Officer and the vacancy shall be filled as soon as conveniently :—

(i) If half of the tenure of the committee is not expired, by way of bye-election, and the provisions of these Rules shall thereupon mutatis mutandis apply accordingly :

(ii) If the half of the tenure of the committee is expired, by the committee by way of nomination out of the same class of the members in respect of which casual vacancy has arisen in the meeting of the remaining members of the committee, which shall be presided over by an officer authorized by State Co-operation Election Authority or District Co-operation Election Officer, in this behalf.

(2) The member so elected or nominated under sub-rule (1) shall hold office so long only as the member of the committee in whose place he is elected would have held it, if the vacancy had not occurred.”

With whatever is the strength as of now, you carry on all functions. Your society can rely on the following note appended to bye-law No. 115 of Model Bye-Laws 2014, (as if applicable to your Society’s Management Committee). The Note reads *Quorum for the Meeting will be simple majority of the existing Committee Members”

Since the Department seem to believe that every housing society must follow Model 2014 for determining strength of the Committee and reservations (whether your society adopted this model or not ).

No need to contact Dy Registrar’s office because those people are not under the THE STATE COOPERATIVE ELECTION AUTHORITY. You write a Letter as per Section 73CB(14)(2) to “S C E A Pune” and wait to hear from that office. Do not contact these people personally as they are the most unsure on election matters. They cannot appoint Administrators in housing societies post 97th Constitutional Amendment.

Simply await instructions fro S C E A which may appear to be very late. But what is the harm?