After remaining without an elected body for over two years, the society is finally in the process of forming a five-member election committee to kickstart the poll process.
Finally, after remaining without an elected AOA for more than two years, the poll process for a new body has been set into motion at Express Garden, a residential society in Indirapuram.
According to residents, the last general body meeting was held in November 2013, and elections could not be held because of lack of specific details about flats.
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) had officially recognised only 536 flats of the total 670, as some of the larger flats had been broken up by the builder into smaller units. But according to the by-laws of the UP Apartment Act, 2010, the floor area of each flat is required to determine the number of voters that can vote from a single flat. Hence, providing the “proportionate area-voter ratio of all the flats” is a basic condition for holding elections.
RK Goindi, a resident, told City Spidey that they had filed a case at the Allahabad High Court in 2015. After receiving a decision by October 2015, the court had forwarded the issue to the deputy registrar of Meerut zone. After a delay of several months, the deputy registrar directed the district administration to facilitate the society's elections.
Finally, the district magistrate appointed a subordinate magistrate to facilitate the poll process.
"On April 15, a meeting was organised at the society under the directive of SP Singh, deputy collector of Ghaziabad. Unofficially, the builder had by then submitted the details of all the 670 flats in the society,” Goindi added.
RK Gupta, another resident, confirmed five residents would be chosen from eight names to form the election committee under the guidance of the deputy collector.
"We hope the committee is formed immediately, so elections can be conducted as soon as possible. It will probably be held by the end of May. The society has been without a proper management body for a long time now," Gupta said.
While speaking to City Spidey, Goindi raised another issue about the AOA exceeding its term. He said, “There must an administrative body to keep tabs on AOAs of different societies, as they commonly tend to hold office beyond their specified term. In case the AOA completes its term and a new body has not taken office by then, the district administration should immediately appoint an administrator to manage the society until a new body is formed.”
However, despite the poll process having started, some residents still worry about GDA not recognising all the flats.
