While some residents said elections should be conducted as per the Societies Registration Act 1860, others were of the opinion that the model by-laws of the UP Apartment Act, 2010 should be followed.
Residents of SPS Residency, a society in Indirapuram, is split over the correct procedure of forming the society's management body.
While a few people said elections should be conducted as per the Societies Registration Act 1860, others were of the opinion that the model by-laws of the UP Apartment Act, 2010 should be followed.
Speaking to City Spidey, SK Kakroo, general secretary of the current resident body, said the current management body, or RWA, was elected according to the Societies Registration Act 1860 in May 2015. The body had a tenure of two years, which meant the next election is to be held in May 2017. Kakroo maintained that the new by-laws of the UP Apartment Act, 2010 were approved by the deputy registrar and accepted by the body in June 2016. According to the Act, the number of voters from each flat depended on the apartment size, which was a deviation from the Societies Registration Act 1860. Moreover, the number of voters from each flat could not be ascertained as the builder was yet to provide the society's deed of declaration.
"At a recent general body meeting of residents, it was proposed that we go ahead with one vote per flat this election, but the idea was opposed by some residents. Finally, a notice was published saying the election would be held according to the Societies Registration Act and not the UP Apartment Act," said Kakroo.
"The president of the body is not in favour of conducting the election as per the UP Apartment Act, because we do not have the deed of declaration. In its absence, we will not be able to find out the allowed voters per flat. I proposed to conduct the elections according to the Apartment Act's by-laws but without the voting rules. We cannot go back once the society's by-laws have been approved according to the UP Apartment Act by the deputy registrar," Kakroo further explained.
However, Priyamvada Rani Singh, president of the resident body, said she had to go ahead with the Societies Registration Act, as the by-laws of the UP Apartment Act were not applicable in the absence of the voter proportions.
"There is no point in conducting elections based on half-baked rules," explained Singh. "If the by-laws have rules that cannot be applied, there is no point adhering to the Act. We have to go ahead with the older Act. Otherwise, the society will be left in the lurch and the situation will spiral out of control. The procedure for procuring the details about the votes is under way at GDA and will take several months; till then the society needs to run properly."
Meanwhile, a letter asking suggestions on the way forward has been sent to the Deputy Registrar (Meerut) on April 17 by SK Kakroo.
