Mumbai: Mulund man’s wheels held hostage in parking war

A Mulundbased software engineer Sachin Kapure has been struggling for the past 30 days to get back his car and bike after the LokNisarg Society committee clamped and seized them inside the premises Despite filing a complaint with the Mulund police officers have failed to assist himThe society secretary claims Kapure has been parking in a spot allotted to another member under a lottery system introduced to resolve parking disputes However experts say a society cannot take the law into its own hands by clamping and seizing vehiclesSachin Kapure has been residing there since 2002 with his parents but now lives alone after their demise He told midday that the society should provide him with a proper parking space instead of clamping his vehiclesThe society has 220 flats and Kapure had been parking his car and bike inside for many years without any parking rules in place After the lottery system was implemented and spaces were allotted in April the society began charging him Rs 500 per day for parking in another memberrsquos spotSpeaking to midday Kapure said ldquoIrsquom a software engineer for the past 30ndash45 days Irsquove been travelling by bus auto taxi and train because my car and bike have been clamped I sought help from Mulund police but they told me itrsquos a civil matterrdquoKapurersquos scooter lying clamped near the society gateHe added that in April the society conducted the parking lottery but his name was not included as he had pending maintenance dues for over a year Although he cleared most of the dues the society still clamped his car and bike on July 6 His bike was towed and parked near the security gate Due to the ongoing legal dispute between him and the society he had not paid the remaining duesEven after he broke the clamp once on police advice the society clamped both vehicles again ldquoMy car and bike have been lying unused for over a month getting damagedrdquo he said According to Kapure the society charges R100 per month for car parking and Rs 50 for bike parking from members including himselfSociety secretary Sanjay Kuckian said ldquoKapure has been on the defaultersrsquo list for over a year He did not get a parking space in the April lottery because of unpaid dues Despite repeated requests and notices he parked in someone elsersquos allotted space The committee decided to clamp his vehicles after a general body meeting Societies have the right to take action if members refuse to remove wrongly parked vehiclesrdquoAdvocate Vinod Sampat president of the Cooperative Societies Residents Association said ldquoRecent orders have come from the Bombay High Court that if a member is a defaulter the society has wide powers to recover dues including disconnection of essential services like water and electricity The law gives societies the power to take coercive action to disconnect a water line which is an essential service However any restraint must be addressed by society through proper channelsThe member whose car is clamped should approach the cooperative court with a prayer to remove the clamp and should claim damages from the society for harassment caused due to the clamping Because of the high court order on disconnection of essential services some society officebearers are to a certain extent behaving like dictators As far as the parking rules of the society are concerned the said member is advised to challenge the same in the cooperative courtrdquoAdvocate Godfrey Pimenta trustee of the Watchdog Foundation said ldquoA housing society has no legal authority to clamp a memberrsquos vehicle for unpaid dues Only an RTOauthorised officer can clamp a vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Act Societies must use Section 101 of the Societies Act for dues recovery rather than resorting to unlawful clampingrdquoSpeaking with midday Senior Inspector Ajay Joshi of the Mulund police station said We received complaint from the Sachin Kapure after society committee clamped his bike and car He complained to us multiple times and we also sent our officer to the society complex The society committee told to us that these are society rules which were made in the general body meeting and police should not interrupt into this matterDue to this reason we are taking help from the Deputy Registrar The Deputy Registrar also sent us letter that they are investigating this matter We are will investigate and solve this matterrdquo