State : Maharashtra ; District :Thane ;City Thane
Builder had not registered the society though he had obtained the O.C in Jan 2011. There is a case in Thane consumer forum regarding deficiency of services and selling the parking spaces against the builder by me.When the case started proceeding, he was aware that he had no other option so to escape he wanted to form the society.
But the flat purchasers wanted him to solve all the issues related to parking and complete the pending work. Some members of the society then took the initiative to help him as they wanted to save their parking spaces.
The Builder issued a letter saying that he will not maintain the society and the members should now form a committee and collect the charges and maintain the society in Feb 2013. He stopped paying the electricity bills.
In April the mseb came to disconnect the electricity. One of the member came forward and paid the money. He is now enjoying 3 stilt parking spaces alloted by builder.
These members close to the builder started convincing the people that the builder has stopped maintaining the society and we would land in trouble if we do not collect the money. They did not take any action against the builder neither at that time nor after 2 years after forming the society. They are the ones in the managing committee. Now the members are paying for every small thing that the builder was supposed to do.
These 4 members then opened an account in the name of the proposed society without the permission of the registrar. There is a letter from the registrar which says that he has not given permission to open the account. They started collecting the maintenance charges . 2000/- per month. They collected that for 8 months.
They then went ahead and formed the society with the consent (namesake)of the builder on 8th Jan 2014.The builder just paid the share money for each flat purchaser and the legal and other charges were not paid by him though he had collected Rs. 5000/- from each flat purchaser towards society formation. The legal charges for society formation were collected separately (Rs. 1000/-) by these members from the flat purchasers which they assured we will recover from the builder after society formation which they haven’t done till date.
I was denied membership and share certificate on the ground that I had not paid the maintenance dues prior to registration. Though I was granted membership and share certificate 6 months after the society registration, I was paying my maintenance dues regulary after society formation. Few members protested against paying the maintenance dues prior to registration as it was the duty of the builder to maintain the premise till society is formed. But gave in to the pressure as they were denied share certificates.
My name is displayed on the notice board every month in the list of outstanding from members and are sending me written notices so that they can prove me a defaulter. This is the amount collected by the members prior to society registration. Also the same is shown in the maintenance bill and interest charged on it. There were directions from the registrar to the society that the payment prior to registration has got nothing to do with membership when I applied for membership . They have passed a resolution in the general body that they are authorised to collect the amount they collected before society formation from those who have not paid. They have given the reference of this resolution and are saying that it is binding on me.
Inspite of my requests to remove the arrears shown in the maintenance bill and not harass me mentally by displaying my name as defaulter on the notice board, the society is adamant.
1.Does the society has right to demand the dues prior to registration?
2.Is the resolution to recover the dues collected illegally prior to registration valid?
3.Should I approach the registrar? Does he have the power? Or Will I need to approach the cooperative court or civil court?
Need your guidance.
I C Naik
Resolution of the general body meeting can be challenged before cooperative court. There is a good case for that as society was not in existence during a period for which the maintenance was being asked for. Even if you do nothing without getting worked up mentally, nothing will happen as Recovery certificate u/s 101 is also to be issued by the Dy, Registrar. So let the Committee go to the Registrar.
