Days after the Deputy Registrar of Delhi Cooperative Housing Society dismissed the petition filed by AK Agarwal against the management of committee of East End Apartment, (CGHS) Mayur Vihar phase 1 extension over the issue of imposing differential maintenance charge collected from a rented flats of the apartment, the petitioner has decided to challenge the deputy registrar’s verdict on the matter.
The petitioner, who had sought declaration from the society's management committee under the Delhi Cooperative Housing Society Act 2003 to put increased maintenance charge levied on rented flat of the society, said, that the deputy registrar had gone beyond his jurisdiction to decide merits of the case. The registrar has dismissed his petition.
Agarwal said he would have had no objection if the management committee had followed proper procedure to charge differential maintenance on rented flats, but the committee had violated cooperative housing society’s rule 102.
According to the rule, for levying differential maintenance charge on rented flats, a management committee needs to put forth the issue in the General Body Meeting (GBM). "This should have been part of the agenda," said Agarwal. "But in violation to the rule, the management did not discuss the issue with all members. The minutes of the GBM held in March 2015, however, mentioned that it was decided to increase the maintenance charge of rented flats.
Agarwal had filed a petition before the Deputy Registrar of Delhi Cooperative Housing Society in September 2015. The court, however, did not find merit in his petition and had dismissed the petition.
Agarwal said that the management committee had stated before the deputy registrar that differential maintenance charge imposed under the rule 102 of Delhi Cooperative Housing Society Act, is only directory and not mandatory. Since it does not provide provision for penalty in case of non-compliance, members are free to decide whether to comply or not.
East End Apartments is a huge cooperative group housing society sprawling over 17 acres. Around 25 per cent of the flats are on rent. President of the Society, BK Singh told City Spidey that it was only after the verdict that differential maintenance charges came into effect from April this year.
