Housing society charged penalty for keeping plants in window

You have stated your case and you have received a torrent of advices and counter-advices without even caring to know the fundamentals. I presume that your Soceity is a registered society. Under which law of Tamilnadu is it registered? There is Tamilnadu Ownership Flats Act, 1994. Are you registered under the Act. That is the only Act which has any teeth. But so far I have not come across a Society registered under the Act. Most Societies register under the Societies Registration Act, which is an Act for voluntary associations. It does not have powers over the members.

In any case the following are the requirements. There must be provision in the byelaws for penalties for breach of the byelaws. The penalties should be prescribed for each specific type of breach. Before a penalty is imposed a show cause notice should be sent and reply obtained. The case should be placed before the General Body and the member should present his case. The  General Body will take decision.

There is no use of complaining to the Police. They will "smile" if you ask them to file an FIR.

In my considered opinion, the legal elements go deeper. The Society, irrespective of the mode of registration, is not  a law -making body and condition, bye-law, that infringes upon the ordinary rights of any individual is clearly unenforceable unless there is a legislative sanction i.e., the Act itself provides for it.  Clearly, the Society is taking Law in their hands; even public authorities cannot act in such high handed mnner. You may serve the Legal Notice as suggested.

There are two things that appear that the member wants: (1) To keep plants on the window sil (2) to continue as a member with all the rights and without paying the penalties imposed by the Society.

As far as the plants are concerned, they are being taken away by the Society. After the imposition of penalty for a second time it appears the member is no more keeping plants. Now his worry is to continue as a member with or without keeping plants on the window sil. What is the use of sending a lawyer notice. Most probably the Soceity will ignore it or (if they are foolish) give a negative reply. In either case the member will have to court.  If he goes to court the balance of convenience favours the Society, because the member cannot keep any plant and the question mark will continue to loom over his membership until the case is decided. He can partially tilt the balance in his favour by getting a stay on the imposition of penalties. He will have to spend large amounts as lawyer's fees for years for a flimsy right of keeping plants on the sil.

Let him give more information. On which floor of the building is he staying?  What is on the other side of the window, is it a passage, the compound or any other?  How many members are there in the Society?  Are there other members who are keeping plants like him? Are they also being penalised?  Quote the byelaw which says that plants cannot be kept on window sils and also  the byelaws on penalties. Last but not the least what kind of registration do they have. 

From his descripttion it appears to be a Soceity of rich people. It will be dangerous to take  them on in a court of law.

in case of what type of society it is registered under, the tnreginet.net site shows it as a "Type of society - House Owners".

Originally posted by : Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech]
	From his descriptttion it appears to be a Soceity of rich people. It will be dangerous to take  them on in a court of law.

1.  EVEN Sanjay Dutt is very very rich (son of MP Sunil Dutt and Sister of Rajya Shaba member Priya Dutt)

2. Lalu Prasad, former CM of Bihar, Subroto Roy (chairman of Sahara group), Asaram Bapu (religious head).

ALL ABOVE ARE RICH N POWERFUL.  However, LAW is above and has shown them their places.

Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal
VISIT:  www.chshelpforum.com

Rich or society of Rich must not instill any fear in residents, citizens.

One should be let breath free and fearlessly in republic of India.

Associating word dangerous with rich must leave any impact on citizens in Republic that has rule of law.

Hitler like dictats can be countered effectively in republic an dhave been contested and won.

Approach your counsel as already suggested without any hitch and apprehension and become properly informed on merits and succeed.

It is true that those persons are most powerful, but the opponents are in power and in control of all other authorities to book them.  The opponents are not common men with limited resources.

In such situations. the basic tenets of Rule of Law constitute lone resource; anything else. is a mere mirage. It is the duty cast upon the the Forums like these to live up to this Principle.

I do not understand what Mr. GLN Prasad says. Who are the opponents?

@Atal 

Before one proceeds legally one should know one's exact position under the laws. Obviously it is a house owners society. But under which act of Tamilnadu is it registered? Some of the Acts available are  Tamilnadu Ownership Flats Act, Societies Registration Act, Co-operative Societies Act and the Companies Act. There may be other Acts, which I do not know. Registration can be under more than one Act. For instance a housing society can be registered under the Tamilnadu Ownership Flats Act and the Co-operative Societies Act together. Tamilnadu Ownership Flat Rules, 1997 contain the byelaws also. Hence those byelaws have the authority of law as they are passed by the Tamilnadu Legislature.

 

Doctor saab,

The society officials/office bearers who has fined and issued such notice, according to m me were opponents.

There are more than 4 pages of replies, in an issue that can be solved with own neighbours living in one Building. 

According to me, the matter can be settled amicably with mutual discussions without wasting precious time and litigation expenses.

When I have to select between neighbourly relations and using flower pots, naturally I respect the majority opinion and laid down bye-laws and avoid further unnecessary arguments out of simple ego.  I may be right or wrong.  No person likes the others pointing out to him on a silly matter and everybody discussing on a simple issue like flower pots.

The manager as per query has cited some bye law and is under obligation to clarify which Bye laws and which clause is quoted.

The resident can ask for copy/authenticated copy and also ask under which Act society is registered.

These might also be displayed in office.

All Act/rules are otherwise also available thru internet search.

Any bye-law framed by a voluntary association like a Housing Society or  a condition or rule imposed by an administrtive authority has to be within the four corners of the provisions of the parent Statute, Such bye-laws or rules or conditions cannot supplant a statutory provision, but they cannot supplement them. In the instant case, unless the parent Act specifically authorise the Society Management to confiscate the palnts and impose fine, they are just another version of modern day feudal lords.

@ GLN Prasad:

I very much agree with you. Neighbours are the most important people in one's life, more than even distant close relatives. Society managers are doing a voluntary job. They have to do many things so that members live peacefully. I myself live in a housing society.

Sirs, Nobody is talking about fighting with neighbours here. We have better things to do rather than picking up battles on flower pots. But same applies to the society management as well. One works voluntarily does not means start dictating rules and define life for others. I kept plants for an year and just recently i was asked to remove them. When i asked for bylaw under which i was asked to remove it and where it mentioned window sill as common area, i was told that it is assumed. Later pots were taken off and 500 rupee penalty was slapped. When I kept one pot, that was taken off and another 500 rupee penalty was slapped. Now after 3 months what I have received is a threat to cut the amenities. It is not an issue of ego but to have right to ask questions to any such non-gov body if things are not clear. The society has other restrictions too like not allowing to keep footwear, dustbin outside house door etc. For aesthetic reasons. Never questioned that. The same society management is not able to help me repairing damage (twice) to my car caused by security person's mishandling of gate. They don't have bylaw for that. Society manager is not aware that the member has rights to look in to upkeeping of records. He told me only executive committee has rights.

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