Aditya Mega City, I'puram: Name-dropping
Welcome To CitySpidey

Location

Aditya Mega City, I'puram: Name-dropping

Some residents allege that the AOA's election committee had illegally removed their names from the final voter list.

Aditya Mega City, I'puram: Name-dropping

Aditya Mega City, a residential society on Kala Patthar road, Indirapuram, observed a pre-election anomaly as some residents of the society alleged that the AOA's election committee had illegally removed names from the final voter list. Residents said that this had in turn rendered them ineligible for filing nominations for the forthcoming AOA elections. They alleged that the election officer was biased towards some of the residents and had willingly done this to bar the other residents from participating in the election.

Speaking to City Spidey, Priyanka Rana, a resident of the society, said that the committee refused to accept her nomination on the grounds that she was a second owner, which made her ineligible for the participation in elections. She also said that the AOA had not issued share certificates for her flat till date.

Kaushal Gandhi, another resident of Aditya Mega City, said that despite having owning a flat in the society, his name had been removed from the voter list. Gandhi, an advocate by profession, said that it was definitely a violation of rights and he, along with some other residents, would surely initiate legal action against the election committee.

Residents had also approached the deputy registrar to look into the matter. In response, the deputy registrar sent a letter to Surendra Khera, the election officer of Aditya Mega City, directing him to follow the guidelines of UP Apartment Act, 2010 and adhere to the judgement of Allahabad High Court on Writ 33862 (2013), which defined the owner and the rights of a flat owner.

According to the judgement:

"Though the apartment owner has been defined to mean; 'a person or persons owning an apartment or promoter or his nominee in case of unsold apartment', since there is no restriction on the occupation of the apartment by members of any joint family, which has been defined under Section 2 (q) and by the family members of the apartment owner as well as lawful tenant or lawful occupant, who may be authorized by the society/ firm / company or any validly recognized association of persons, such lawful occupation will also be included within the meaning of the apartment owner both for the purposes of enjoying rights and obligations and corresponding general liabilities of the promoter, but also for the purposes of becoming members of the association of apartment owners. In case of any dispute on the validity of his membership, it has to be first resolved by the members of the association in an annual meeting or special meeting of the association and in case of any further dispute by the Competent Authority under Rule 2 (c) of the U.P. Apartment Rules, 2011 and thereafter before the State Government before it is raised before any Court of law."

City Spidey took up the matter with election officer Surendra Khera. He said that the rights to participate in the election process are with the first owner, and the AOA's by-laws do not permit him to include the names in the voter list. Speaking about the orders of the deputy registrar and the Allahabad High Court, he said that the order mentions that in the case of any dispute about the validity of membership, it had to be first resolved by the general body of the association. "I will only make changes if I receive any order from the GDA or any other competent authorities or legal orders from the court of law," added Khera.

But residents are not ready to buy Khera's response and said that the election committee had published a notice on July 2 which called for changes in voting rights of a particular flat. The notice accessed by City Spidey also invited for applications for assigning the voting rights to people other than the first co-owner which would be accepted till July 6. But again the committee published another notice on July 4, which said that residents who had not applied for transfer during the 2015 elections would not be eligible for applying for changing the voting rights. It also said that transfer of voting rights carried out in 2015 could not reversed. Residents say that the committee tricked them and published the voter's list without their names on it.

Speaking to City Spidey, Pramod Kumar Jain, the president of the AOA, said, that share certificates or ownership was not the main issue. He pointed towards the malfunction of the election committee which created all the problems. He also said that it is not possible to call a special general body meeting to discuss the issue as the dates of elections have been finalised.

City Spidey also discussed the matter with Alok Kumar, president of FedAOA, the apex body of AOAs. He said that such disputes must not arise in AOA and should be avoided at all costs. He also said that such problems clearly pointed towards mismanagement of AOAs. Speaking about the removal of the names from the voter list, he said that it was wrong and illegal and people must be encouraged to participate in the democratic process instead.