Mumbai: Andheri's housing society office-bearers face action for charging extra

The officebearers of the plush Shantiniketan Air India cooperative housing society CHS in Versova were disqualified recently and barred from contesting elections for a term five years after they were allegedly found to have levied transfer fees above Rs 25000 which is against the norms Action was also initiated for contempt of the deputy registrar of cooperative societiesrsquo orders as the amount collected over and above Rs 25000 had allegedly not been refundedAccording to real estate experts violating the rules and overcharging transfer fees under any head is a criminal offence and the officebearers can even be booked for lsquoextortionrsquo under the Indian Penal CodeThe society has bungalows and towers occupied by celebrities and corporate honchos The societyrsquos officebearers were unavailable for commentCA Ramesh Prabhu founder chairman of MahaSEWA said ldquoIn the Shantiniketan Air India CHS Ltd case the deputy registrar of cooperative societies had directed the society officebearers to refund the extra amount transfer fees collected at the time of transfer of flat As the officebearers did not refund the amount it amounts to an offence of contempt of registrar directions and therefore the deputy registrar has removed the officebearers from the committee and disqualified them from contesting the election for one term of five yearsrdquoAlso Read Maharashtra State housing body coop dept launch app on all related lawsThe rulesPrabhu said ldquoAs per the governmentrsquos direction under Section 79A of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act 1960 the society cannot charge transfer fees in excess of Rs 25000 There have been instances in the past where the police registered FIRs and booked the officebearers for demanding more than the said amountrdquoldquoThe Bombay High Court too has passed orders to refund the amount collected in excess of Rs 25000 under any name at time of transfer of flat with interest The bylaws also prescribe the same However societies in order to generate revenue and to subsidise the maintenance charges recover the additional amount in the name of donation society major repairs fund welfare fund etc This is not a good practice and officebearers should not get this type of resolution passedrdquoOn May 16 2022 two residents of the society filed a complaint with the deputy registrar of cooperative societies K West division Bandra East saying that the society officebearers on various occasions demanded additional amounts as infrastructure fees if they wanted the shares transferred The complainants also cited a similar case that took place in Walkeshwar where the police had intervenedThe recent order dated January 30 2023 by Deputy Registrar K West division Nitin Dahibhate stated ldquoThis office had on June 20 2022 written to the society calling upon them to furnish the details about the issues raised in the complaint In response the society vide its letter dated July 26 2022 had clarified that they have charged Rs 25000 only as transfer chargesrdquoThe order further stated that one of the complainants during the proceeding had produced evidence of being charged Rs 50000 by the society as infrastructure fee levied on multiple flat transferortransferees It added that based on the evidence the office held that the society had been illegally charging extra feesThe deputy registrar further observed that the said officebearers are performing the duties of the society in violation of the approved bylaws of the society and in violation of the MCS Act and Rules The official held that this act put the residents of the society at disadvantage at large The deputy registrar then issued a showcause notice to the officebearersThe deputy registrarrsquos office fixed the next hearings on December 29 2022 January 6 and January 12 2023 but the society officebearers remained absentFinal orderThe deputy registrar held that the officebearers failed to comply with its earlier directions In view of this he ordered ldquoThe chairman secretary and treasurer of Shantiniketan Air India Coop Hsg Soc Ltd Yari Road Versova are hereby barred ineligible to be reelected as members of any committee until the expiry of one term of the committee and that they shall not be eligible to be appointed or be renominated as per this orderrdquo