Cooperative housing society related query(mumbai)
priyanka naringrekar
(Querist) 11 April 2014
This query is : Resolved
Hi ,
Before asking my query i would like to give detailed background of current situation so that it would be easier to help me in my complicated issue.
WE stay in Mumbai. We have got two flats in same building. B-7 is the old or original flat (1st property) and B-05 is the second flat (2nd property).
My father was secretary in our building and was always a strict and bit stubborn person about following rules.(CHS bye laws)however there were people who never liked his approach and was his strong opponent.They all gathered together and literally snatched away all documents from him in one of the committee meeting stating that he is dominator and hence they don't want him to continue .this incident happened in the year 2001 about in the month mid of jun-july.( i don't remember exact date and month)within couple of days my father returned all the society documents (like copy of bills etc) rest all documents were in society office.
Thus ,there was no proper handover of documents and no audit done for the balancesheet before taking handover.
In the year 2002 we bought another flat i.e b-05 in same society. We paid Transfer fee ,did all legal procedure etc. however Mr.venu(secretary) refused to transfer that flat in the name of my mother.He gave false reason that my father has not handed over all documents pertaining to society.(basically mr.venu wanted to trouble us)My father approached grahak court to challenge this act of secretory. Meanwhile my father stopped payment of society maintenance for B-05.( he was mere angry that even after paying the transfer fee society kept the flat in the name of old owner and they were not ready to give us NOC to rent that flat) later on Mr.Venu undertook Major repair work in society without doing structural audit (which is required and without signing indemnity bond for undertaking such a huge project in the year 2003.)My father opposed this decision of mr.Venu.however majority of society member's were least bothered about it and they agreed to spend that much money.( even after that work our society condition is still worst,because the work done was without doing proper study and measurement) till then B-05 was not transferred. In anger my father declared that he will not pay the maintenance for both the flats (i.e b-07 and b-05)in the year 2003.
In the year 2011, we won the case against society and judge order them that they should immediately transfer the flat on my mothers name. Society was penalized with a penalty of Rs.1000 and it was stated that if society makes any delay in transferring this flat ownership they must be penalized Rs.100 on every month.
Here i would like to mention that in the year 2011 there was a new secretary Mr.Pandey in our society.
we submitted our courts order with secretory and gave them written application to transfer the flat and pay us penalty of Rs.1000 as per courts order. however Mr.Pandey refused to transfer that flat and forced us to make the payment of dues first.He was least bothered about courts order. We even suggested committee that we will make the payment vis DD and on the same day committee should sign transfer paper and transfer that share certificate on my mothers name. This was a fair deal. However committee refused this suggestion too and forced us to make the payment first. Eventually we agreed to their force( my mother was not keeping well those days and we did not have time to fight with them)We made the payment and then after a months time they transferred that flat.(i.e in the month of dec)
Society charged us Rs,3,03,000 as maintenance+penalty@18% for B-05.
Here i would like to mention that till date Mr.Paney has not given me breakup of Rs.3,03,000. In-spite of repeated requests and written application
Mr.Pandey along with other committee members gave us oral promise that they will calculate exact penalty amount and dues for B-05 within couple of months(in the year 2011) and later on they will let us know dues for B-07 and if there is any additional amount taken by society in case of b-05 they will adjust against the dues of B-07 and then whatever amount is remaining as maintenance dues for B-07 we will have to pay. WE agreed to this proposal.
In the year 2012 my mother detected with cancer and we could not follow up with them about the breakup of dues for both b-07 and b-05.Dec,2012 my mother passed away. 2013 we were not mentally stable specially my father.
Now in the year 2014 Mr.Pandey again approached us and insisted to pay Rs.1,40,144 as final amount against the due of B-07. WE asked him about breakup but he said that he will sit together and will look into the accounts once we make the payment of Rs.1,40,144 and according to him this would be the final amount.
We made a mistake here we trusted his sweet words and assurance. We made the payment in the month if Jan,2014. however even after payment we did not get any clearance certificate from society and committee did not post on notice board that they have received payment from us. we approached them and then our Treasurer Mr.Bolard said that this is a part payment i,e this was a dues against repair fund and not maintenance. (Repair work was done in the year 2003 and our contribution for that work was Rs.50655) He said this is interest and amount for Repair fund only. WE were in state of shock. On top of that Committee informed us that we need to pay Rs.91,000 in addition for maintenance. I am clueless about their accounting and shocked that why Mr.Bolard did not utter a single word when we were paying A Cheque in front of him in society's favor.
Till date they have not issued any Receipt of payment For my records i only have acknowledgement.
We feel cheated .
Till date
1.We have not received Rs.1000 and Rs. 300 penalty from society( i mention 300 because order came in the first week of Sep,2011 society had 6 week to obey but they transferred in the last week of Dec,2011)
2.We have not received proper copy of bills for both B-07 and B-05 .When asked them they said they do not have old records. and they just claimed that amount based on previous balancesheet( i.e Balancesheet prepared by Mr.Venu)
3.I asked them to show me bank statement of society for the payment i made in the past so that i can calculate actual dues for B-05 and B-07. they refused to give me that details too.
4.When i checked my current bill details i can see that they are charging parking charges for both the flats. however i don't have any vehicle to park. when i asked them about it they said we will look into it but for now they just asked me to write a letter to them
4.This made my doubt more strong that society has charged many things wrongly in our maintenance bill.and has also charged interest on that amount
I am emotionally and financilay in trouble i have taken person loan of Rs.1,40,144 to pay and now they are asking for more money.
When i pleaded them to give me breakup they said i must make the payment first and then they will put this matter in AGM and then it will be decided about dues .
I tried talking to other member's but majority of members are least bothered and they don't even attend meetings.
I have given written request via registered Ad to Secretary too but not yet received any reply from them.
Apologies if i mentioned any irrelevant details or i missed on any legal information i wanted to share my agony
Please help me in this situation, if you need more clarification please let me know but please help me to get out of this problem.
Thanks for reading it.
Dr J C Vashista
(Expert) 12 April 2014
Be precise in posting any query on this platform, otherwise engage a local lawyer.
priyanka naringrekar
(Querist) 12 April 2014
to be precise i want to ask ,what should i do if society is not ready to give me justification of charges and insisting on payment of dues.
they are not even ready to give me reciepts of payment made.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 12 April 2014
1) issue legal notice to society to furnish receipts of payments made .
2) as far as charges are concerned bill issued contains detailed break up of amount collected towards property taxes, insurance , sinking , repair fund and other maintenance charges .
3) every year annual report of society mentions amount due from defaulters . it would show the amount outstanding against your flat as per audited accounts .
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
(Expert) 13 April 2014
I agree with the suggestions made by expert Mr.Ajay Sethi in this regard.
Ahmed Daud Girach
(Expert) 13 April 2014
Give notice with copy to cooperative society registrar to reply within 15 days and then after 15 days file RTI application to registrar what happened. Another source is calculate your self and file consumers court application for refund as they have collected illegitimate dues.
Ahmed Daud Girach
(Expert) 13 April 2014
Give notice with copy to cooperative society registrar to reply within 15 days and then after 15 days file RTI application to registrar wnhat happened. Another source is calculate your selfand file consumers court application for refund as they have collected illegitimate dues.
Hemant Agarwal
(Expert) 09 May 2014
IF the Society Secretary has collected ANY amount that they are not bound to collect, THEN a member can file a private criminal complaint at the local magistrates court, under the Indian Penal Code u/s 405, 418, 425 & 463.
The above will set right most of the problems.
Along with the above the aggrieved member may also file a complaint with the local Consumer Court, and claim the relevant damages and compensation etc....
Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal
http://hemantagarwal21.blogspot.in/?view=sidebar
