I Mr R. G. Devkar being a registered member of VEERSHREE Co-op Society Ltd. having registration number : PANA/PANA1/HASG/TC/1411/2008-09. SHANIWAR PETH PUNE – 411030 MAHARASHTRA.
> Society does not own conveyance deed and in AGM Mc has decided to collect parking charges for vehicle parked below building.
Q 1) If society is not the owner of plot owned can it collect parking charges from members? Also there is no contact between society and builder to levy such charges.
Q2) In same society a plot of parking is owned by registered member, the society wants to levy parking maintenance to his plot of land too. Is society eligible to collect such charges?
I C Naik
PARKING space is a common vacant surface attached to a building of the registered cooperative housing society. Every member is allotted a private place in the building as his her dwelling unit depending upon his contract with the builder (he is in most cases chief promoter and member of the society till the last flat I sold) After that only obligation of the builder is to transfer the entire property comprising all flats and open surface to the society by registering a conveyance deed. Pending this registration the property is de facto vested in the society till it is de jure transferred to the society. Time frame of a journey from de facto to de jure can be any. In Mumbai 90%+ housing societies are still hanging on the way from de facto to de jure.
Going by the de-facto ownership the society operates as per Its registered bye-laws which has a legal sanctity in terms of the registration thereof and the fact that they conform to provisions of the M C S Act 1960 as also any other applicable law.
General Body Meeting has an authority to fix the parking charges as provided under following bye-law No. 84.
Every member who has been allotted the stilt or the parking space, shall be required to pay the parking charges at such rate as may be decided by the general body of the society at its meeting, irrespective of the fact whether the actually park his motor vehicle or not. Where a member has been allotted more then one stilt/parking space, he shall pay parking charges in respect of every such stilt or parking space, as decided by the General Body Meeting.
Every member is bound by the above condition because every member has signed a statement in the application form for joining the society as member namely:
“I have gone through the proposed*registered Bye-laws of the Society and undertake to abide by the same and any modifications the Registering Authority may make in them.”
Does this answer all your questions?