Maharashtra state government has proposed setting up a separate regulatory authority to oversee cooperative housing societies and resolve grievances by drafting a separate chapter dedicated to housing in the Cooperatives Act.
The present Act addresses regulation for credit, sugar and all other cooperative societies together. The new chapter will chalk out guiding principles for dispute redressal and give judicial powers to the regulatory authority so that people don’t approach court over minor matters, reports ET.
A notification issued recently by the department of cooperatives suggested separation of housing cooperative administration from other cooperatives to make it more transparent and effective. The government has set up a committee of experts and directed it to submit a report.
There are over 70,000 cooperative societies in the Mumbai metropolitan region and the number keeps rising with the expansion in and around the distant suburbs such as Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Thane and Vasai-Virar.