Tuesday, November 22, 2011

RTI Union 19 Nov Report: “Tighten screws on CHS’ Corrupt Managing Committees & Builders” – Mumbai petitions CM against Coop Minister

Monday, 21 Nov, Mumbai: Aggrieved members of 85 cooperative societies from all over Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai at the RTI Union meeting held on Saturday, November 19, at Clifton CHS Juhu, signed a petition to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. These included citizens from many areas of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, as far-flung as Marine Drive, Bandra, Dadar, Vile Parle, Andheri, Dahisar, Vasai, Chembur, Wadala and Koparkhairane (Navi Mumbai).

 

In this petition, the signatories urged the Chief Minister and Cooperatives minister to protect the legitimate interests of flat owners by tightening the screws on corrupt managing committee members of cooperative housing societies, and also on builders who collaborate with them. Also, they registered protest against cooperatives minister Harshvardhan Patil's recent speeches on public forums, promising to cancel the need for managing committees to sign M-20 indemnity bonds.

 

READ LETTER AND CONTACT DETAILS OF SIGNATORIES: http://tinyurl.com/85-CHS-members-letter2CM

 

This meeting was organized by J B Patel <jebypatel@rediffmail.com>, on behalf of the RTI Union for Land & Building Issues in MMR Region.

 

The aim of the meeting was to help members of various "un-cooperative housing societies" find lawful remedies to their difficulties, with advice from well-known legal experts such as Vinod Sampat, Ameit Mehta and Hemant Agarwal, and activists such as J B Patel, G R Vora, Mohammed Afzal and Sulaiman Bhimani. These experts explained the lawful rights of cooperative society members, and replied to over 40 citizens' queries between 5.30 and 8.30 pm.

 

Meeting photos: http://www.box.com/s/xz5uzl1zo2f9jx917n1j

 

IN THE LETTER, THE FIVE MAIN DEMANDS TO THE CM WERE:

 

1)      AUTOMATIC CONVEYANCE, not just 'Deemed Conveyance'. After the builder sells most of the flats in a building, and cooperative society has been formed, he should have no further claim on the plot of land or the building structure. His ownership rights will only extend to unsold flats, for the limited purpose of selling them without modification, in as-is-where-is condition and within time limit of 6 months.

 

2)      BAN NURSING HOMES, pathology labs, liquor shops, restaurants, bars, party halls etc. in housing societies. Sir, a large majority of disputes and difficulties arise when the builder sells the last remaining flats on ground floor, first floor etc. to nursing homes, restaurants etc, which causes pollution and inconvenience to the residents.

 

3)      BAN MULTIPLE SOCIETIES WITHIN A SINGLE ESTATE. Having many building societies within a single compound enables builders to create confusion and quarrels about the shared land and facilities, and to continue to exercise ownership over the land.

 

4)      Make it compulsory to VIDEOGRAPH ALL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS, EGMs etc. and give copy to each member on a CD or DVD. Just as it is compulsory to videotape the voting for selection of Redeveloper, please make it compulsory to videotape all meetings, to prevent bullying, intimidation and non-observance of rules and democratic norms by powerful managing committee members.

 

5)      Make it compulsory to give OPEN INSPECTION OF SOCIETY DOCUMENTS EVERY SIX MONTHS to all residents, including members, nominees, heirs, associate members and rental tenants. Any copies of documents demanded during such inspections must be given within one week. This is necessary because denial of proper documents is the main method used by CHS managing committee members to endlessly deny nominees and heirs their legal rights.

 

IF YOU WISH TO SEND A SIMILAR LETTER TO CM and Minister of Cooperatives, please download this Word file, and print it on their own letterheads: http://tinyurl.com/CM-letter-format-CHS

 

Warm Regards,

Krish

98215 88114

 

PS: Meeting Statement of Accounts: http://www.box.com/s/8ezxurbudo0663injlmh

Thank you, generous donors, fellow organizers, participants, and above all, the panel of experts, namely Vinod Sampat, Ameit Mehta, Hemant Agarwal, L B Tiwari and Rajiv Phadnis. We couldn't have done this without you!

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