Vijay Trimbak Gokhale

First of all let me thank you profusely for yeomen service you are doing to needy persons by giving them legal advice.

I have a following query and would earnestly request you to please enlighten me on this. A person was staying in a rented premises viz.a two room block on rent in a house owned by some owner. That was in 1950-80 or so.

Subsequently the owner decided to develop the property and this tenant moved out of the rented place and eventually came back in a flat given by the developer somewhere around 1985 or so.

At the time of moving out he has not entered into any agreement with developer in good faith because he knew the developer well. But the developer had written to the then municipal authorities, while seeking their permission for development that this tenant was staying along with other tenants in the building to be demolished. He has a copy of this.

The developer builder has since been absconding and not traceable and all communication sent on his last known address comes back with remarks “addressee does not stay at that place”.

After the development was completed, society was formed in 1987. He was made a member and he has a share certificate in his name and he has been regularly paying maintenance and other dues of society regularly and there is no default at all till date.

The conveyance is not yet done.

Society wants to go for redevelopment now.

1. Now can this member be deprived of redevelopment because he does not have agreement?

2. What are remedial steps to regularize the ownership of flat and entitlement to redevelopment?

3. Is there any SC judgment which supports/protects the rights of such owner of a flat who does not have agreement with original developer but he is member of society as mentioned above.

I C Naik

The State Government has issued directions for redevelopment of older properties of cooperative societies under Section 79(A) of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act 1960 to all the Co-operative Housing Societies in the State of Maharashtra. These directions are having the effect of provisions of the M. C. S. Act 1960.

The relevant directions for reaching answer to the case under reference are as under suggesting that the member’s rights are protected despite the deficiency pointed out in the query.

1. Agreement to be entered into with Developer:-

Subject to the terms and conditions approved by General Body Meeting of the Society, an agreement should be entered into with the Developer within one month under guidance from the Architect / Project Management Consultant.

2. There should be particulars of the existing flats with carpet area of the flats occupied by each of the member of the buildings. The area of the plot as per the ‘Property Register Card’ should be mentioned. The total estimated FSI area that can be constructed by utilizing TDR on the plot should be mentioned. The agreement should clearly mention the carpet area, including the additional area which will be made available to the members in the new building.

3. Rights of those who are in possession of the flats will remain unaffected.

4.After receipt of Occupation Certificate, flats in the redeveloped building should as far as possible be allotted as per present conditions floor-wise and if it becomes necessary to allot flats by drawing lots, on completion of construction, Developer should make arrangement drawing lots, and at that time flats should be allotted in the presence of Registrar’s representative and this process be recorded by video shooting.

5.Building plans sanctioned by the Municipal Corporation / Competent Authority should be put up before the General Body Meeting for information and if any member wants copies of approved documents, he should submit application for the same to the Society and it will be binding on the Committee to furnish the information by charging necessary fee.

6. The drafts of all the relevant documents pertaining to the redevelopment process must be circulated to all members well in advance and the objections, suggestions and modifications if any, must be discussed in the Special General Body Meetings including recording proper minutes of each meeting to maintain the transparency. It’s advisable to discuss the documents in detail at the general body meeting so as to arrive at a consensus about the terms and conditions in order to avoid later hassles.

7. The society shall accept and admit the prospective/additional flat owners of the newly constructed building/s as members of the society and treat them at par with existing members.

Above mentioned are some of the important points relating to redevelopment of old buildings by cooperative Societies. Since the laws on the subject of redevelopment are yet to be fully developed, any decision in this matter should be taken with great care or else it could lead to a possible dispute or litigation.

Permanent Alternate Agreement between redeveloper and the member in respect of the flat the building of which was redeveloped is necessary to create titles of occupancy rights in favour of member.

Secretary ought to have asked for it 3 years before, but that cannot held against him in defence. It is also required for further transfers in future. Now with liberalized Conveyance Procedure, it should be possible to get a deemed conveyance taking help of the Conveyance lawyer. It will entail expenditure, but that was unavoidable at the time of purchase of the flat.

The apex bank of India RBI has decided to keep the Kolhapur based Urban Cooperative bank “Shri Shivaji Sahkari bank under directions for next six months.

In its release the RBI says “It is hereby notified for the information of the public that validity period of directions imposed on Shri Shivaji Sahakari Bank Ltd., Gadhinglaj, Dist. Kolhapur vide RBI’s directive UBD.CO.BSD-I.No.D-61/12.22.249/2011-12 dated October 24, 2011 has been extended for a further period of six months from April 25, 2013 to October 24, 2013”.

The decision on the bank would be taken after reviewing the performance of the UCB once the direction period is over.

A copy of the direction dated April 16, 2013 notifying the above modification is displayed at the bank’s premises for the perusal of public, the release reads.

RBI was also quick to add that the modification should not per-se be construed to imply that Reserve Bank of India is satisfied of substantive improvement in the financial position of the bank.

National Council for Cooperative Training(NCCT) organized Training Programme on Financial Management–Accounting principles and procedures from 20th to 26th May, 2013 at its Head Quarters, New Delhi.

The programme was inaugurated by the Dr. A.K. Bhutani IAS, Joint Secretary and Central Registrar Cooperative Societies, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. Other dignitaries invited for this programme was Shri Avinash Chander, Technical Director, Institute of Charted Accounts of India, New Delhi.

Dr. Dinesh, Director General, NCCT and Shri Mohan Kumar Mishra, Secretary, NCCT, were also present on the occasion. The program was attended by NCCT staff posted at training units (20 nos.)spread across the state capitals in India. The basic purpose of this programme was to enhance the efficiency of the Accounts keeping staff.

In the beginning of the programme Shri Mohan Kumar Mishra, Secretary, NCCT welcomed all the dignitary and delegates on this occasion and briefed them about the need for enhancing financial management at its unit level. Dr.N.Ranjana Devi, Director (P) presented a Power point Presentation on functions of NCCT.

Shri.Avinash Chander, Technical Director, ICAI, New Delhi addressed the participants emphasizing the correct presentation of Financial aspect of Business transactions in the Books of Accounts.

Dr.A.K.Bhutani, IAS, Joint Secretary (Cooperation) and Central Registrar Cooperative Societies, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India in his inaugural address emphasized on the important of financial data post latest constitutional amendment in the interest of the real service to members of the Cooperatives.

Dr.Dinesh, Chief Executive, National Cooperative Union of India, Director General NCCT New Delhi, in his presidential address explained the need of organization of such programmes and further assured the government of India for efficient financial administration in the cooperative sector functioning. The vote of thanks was presented by Shri B.S.Rohilla, Director (Finance), NCCT to the all present.

Despite catering to the needs of nearly one billion people worldwide, cooperatives have failed to elicit matching response from the governments, said Dr Dinesh, Chief Executive of National Cooperative Union of India.

Dr Dinesh was, however, unsatisfied with the over-all performance of the cooperatives in India. Our International year of Cooperative pledge reads;“Cooperative enterprises build better world”. But how could we keep this pledge without professionalizing the cooperative team?

The relation of cooperative members to the cooperatives operating in Indian villages is restricted to getting a sack or two of fertilizers, seeds or other such requirements. He is not involved in its operations. There is no professional way of doing business, he lamented.

Unless the PACS become a whole game that survive on their own and conduct business through professional expertise, the slogan “cooperative builds better world” would sound hollow, he said in a frank chat with Indian Cooperative.

Mentioning America as an example, Dr Dinesh said 97 percent of the US’s energy needs are met through cooperatives. In Singapore majority of fair price shops are run through cooperatives, he added.

He felt that the government of India is ignoring the role of cooperatives for economic growth of the country. The absence of word “cooperative” in the five year plans for two consecutive terms comes as a shock to him.

If nuclear power could be generated by government and salt by TATAs why not allow cooperatives in the agricultural field where it is already doing 50 percent of the business, Dr Dinesh asked.

Raman

In what way can a co-operative be formed in Bihar?

I C Naik

By making an application for registration to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. Watch the previous stories of this column to know the details as I have treated the same a number of times.

Yogesh C Parmar

I want to register a credit cooperative society in Gujarat. Can you let me the know procedure for the same, where to register, what are the document required, what is the fee structure, what is the minimum paid up capital required. Is RBI permission required for credit cooperative society?

I C Naik

One person cannot register a Cooperative Credit Society.

The apex Fisheries cooperative federation FISHCOPFED has opened its sixth office in Chennai recently. The cooperative federation has been on expansion mode in recent years.

Last month it set up a fresh fish shop in New Moti Bagh in N Delhi- an area that has come up offering habitats to the top bureaucrats of the country.

After change in the management of Fishcopfed in 2006 when the current Managing Director B K Mishra took over, the cooperative Federation has been on growth path.

The incumbent MD worked hard and soon cleared off Fishcopfed liabilities and began to register profit-prompting cooperators of the stature of Iffco MD U S Awasthi christening Fishcopfed as a cooperative success story.

The federation has already opened six regional units in the country besides its headquarters in Delhi. The regional offices are located in Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Chennai.

Talking to Indian Cooperative Fishcopfed MD B K Mishra said that Chennai office would cater to the needs of fishermen in the southern part of the country. “The geographical locations of our regional offices are such that we are able to cover whole of India”, Mishra added.

Cooperative banks are at receiving end in the wake of the Cobrapost sting which eposed some top banks involved into money-laundering. Nabard Managing Director Prakash Bakshi has, however, taken up cudgels on their behalf.

NABARD said that it has found no shortcoming pointing towards any such activity.

“Every year we do an inspection and we have not found anything like that,” National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s (NABARD) chairman Prakash Bakshi said.

Reserve Bank of India has reportedly found that cooperative banks are used as conduits.

The cooperative banks tie-up with scheduled commercial banks to expand their reach. Co-operative banks can accept cash under Rs 50,000 from customers and earn commission.

When asked about the misuse of the system and if this amounts to regulatory arbitrage, Bakshi said, “It is the same regulation for everybody. Banking Regulation Act is same for everybody.”

Online portal Cobrapost had in its sting operation allegedly proved some executives at three top private banks — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank – agreeing to receive unverified sums of cash and put them in their investment schemes and benami accounts in violation of anti-money laundering laws.

Earlier this month, it had followed up with a similar operation, showing executives at over 20 financial institutions, including State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India, offering similar services.

The Reserve Bank has maintained that no transaction has happened while the sting also does not point to “money laundering”.

RBI Governor D Subbarao has also said: “RBI is not directly involved… even banks are not directly responsible. They are not expected to inquire about the source of income. It is for government and tax authorities to check money laundering.”

Courtesy: IE

The leading cooperative of the country IFFCO has strengthened its
commitment for Indian farmers by ensuring long term supply of raw
material of Phosphatic Fertilisers.

The world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of processed fertilizers in cooperative sector announced the signing of a Long Term Agreement with the Brazilian mining giant Vale SA for the supply of Rock Phosphate.

The LTA was signed by Mr.K.L.Singh, Director (Technical) of IFFCO and
Mr Roberto, Director Commercial of Vale, SA.

According to the agreement, the Rock Phosphate will be supplied from
Bayovar mines which are located in the Piura province of Peru.

Almost 90% of Phosphate demand of India is met through imports. India
ranks the largest importer of Phosphate globally.

Talking to Indian Cooperative Dr U S Awasthi, Managing Director of
IFFCO said that this LTA will be key to long term assurance for
phosphate fertiliser raw materials to Indian agriculture aiding to
increased food grains production.

“This is a step towards backward integration strategy of IFFCO in
order to strengthen its Phosphate sourcing for the manufacturing of
Phosphatic Fertilizers in India. Our commitment to farmers is always a priority” he added.

There are no deposits of Phosphates in India and country’s entire
Phosphate requirement is imported. IFFCO have two complex fertilizer
plants in India at Kandla and Paradeep. The DAP, NPK, NP plant at
Paradeep is world’s biggest complex fertilizer plant which is hailed
as world’s largest phosphoric acid plant with capacity of 2650 MT per
day of 100% P2O5

NAFED’s Annual General Meeting at NUCI Auditorium in Delhi on Friday missed a stormy session by a whisker as delegates were prepared to voice their protest on the issue of share capital.

In a rarest of the rare cases delegates participating in the meeting forced the withdrawal of Agenda number-3.
Agenda number-3 was related to raising the share-capital price from Rs 40,000 to one lakh.

In an interview given to Indian Cooperative earlier, NAFED Chairman Bijender Singh had warned of disqualification in case of non-payment of the enhanced rate. Many of the delegates had also come, though reluctantly with a bank draft of Rs 60,000.

But the popular mood was against putting money in a sinking boat.

Indian Cooperative has learnt that there were backroom discussions between Nafed Chairman Bijender Singh and NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav in which the latter gave former an idea of restive mood of participants. Many of the directors also impressed upon the Nafed Chairman to understand the rebellious mood of delegates.

Some of the participants were prepared to raise their voice against the hike which might have led to an uncalled for situation. In a swift move the agenda was dropped before its turn came leading to wide applauds from the delegates.

Ram Kalebar Singh from Samastipur, Bihar who had raised the issue was quick to grab the mike and thanked the Chairman of staving off a storm.

Justifying their demand one of the delegates told Indian Cooperative that NAFED has not given us any dividend for a number of years. We have demanded to apply the new rate for new comers prospectively not retrospectively.

Speaking on the occasion Nafed Chairman Bijender Singh informed the delegates of steps taken by the Federation to recover the losses suffered by the agri-cooperative in tie-up business. The losses have accrued upto Rs 2000 crores, he informed.

Nafed has requested the government to give a bank guarantee of Rs 1200 crore to take care of the old loans and an amount of Rs 920 crores interest free loan for nine years, he added.

Bijender Singh also said that Nafed is taking all moves to recover the lost money with the help of investigating agencies including CBI. He promised to put Nafed back on the track with the help of governmental support.