The Hindu : New Delhi News : Cooperatives Act worries flat owners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Cooperatives Act worries flat owners

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, MAY 19. With the notification of the Cooperatives Societies Act pending approval with Delhi's Lieutenant-Governor, Vijai Kapoor, a majority of the owners of group housing society flats who had bought the properties on General Power of Attorney are a worried lot as various provision of the Act are punitive and stringent for both the original allottees and the GPA occupants.

The Delhi Government had sent the Act, which has already received the President's approval, for gazette notification to the Lieutenant-Governor a couple of days ago. This has made nearly two lakh of the three lakh society flat owners in Delhi jittery as they have bought their flats on GPA.

According to the executive member of the Federation of Rohini Cooperative Group Housing Societies, Sanjiv Kumar, the Act tends to exploit, discriminate and harass the GPA flat occupants in the group housing societies spread across Delhi.

As a result of the Act, he said, every GPA occupant of the flat will have to bear a financial burden of around Rs 100 per square feet - around Rs 1 lakh for a 1,000 sq feet flat - for obtaining mandatory membership in their respective societies. Mr. Kumar said for obtaining membership of the society a GPA flat owner will have to pay a contribution transfer fee of Rs 10,000 to the society fund, obtain a no-objection from society management and Registrar of Cooperative Societies and pay the exorbitant charges to DDA for conversion of property from leasehold to freehold. The most critical aspect is that failure to comply with all these provisions within 360 days of the notification will attract a penalty of up to Rs. 50,000 or imprisonment of up to seven years or both.

Mr. Kumar said due to the harsh penalty there is general fear and resentment in all the GPA occupants, who are also feeling betrayed by the Delhi Government as it has made and imposed a draconian Act. The anger is equally directed against the Centre which has made the flat conversion clause mandatory and thereby got a large number of people entangled in the discriminatory and exploitable provisions of the Act. Though only a third of about all the occupants are original allottees, Mr Kumar said as the GPA occupants do not enjoy voting rights in the societies it leads to a strange situation of a minority exploiting or harassing a majority.

He hoped that the Act would be modified and made people-friendly to promote cooperative movement with emphasis on love, equality, brotherhood and peaceful coexistence instead of discriminating against a particular group.

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