Directions to be given to all Co-operative Housing Societies in Maharashtra State u/s. 79(A) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960.
Regarding Re-development of the buildings of Co-operative Housing Societies.
Government of Maharashtra
G.R.No. Sa.Gru.Yo.2007/Pra.kra. 554/14-Sa
Department of Co-operation, Marketing and Textile.
Dated:- 3rd January, 2009
Whereas, Re-development Schemes of the buildings belonging to Co-operative Housing Societies are extensively being undertaken in the State of Maharashtra. Several complaints have been received from the members regarding the management of co-operative societies which are re-development. By and large, the nature of complaints received in the matter of redevelopment of co-operative Housing societies is as follows:-
1] Not taking the members in confidence in the re-development process.
2] Non-transparency in the Tendering Process.
3] Arbitrary appointment of contractors.
4] Conducting proceedings in violation of the co-operative law, Rules or Bye-laws.
5] Lack of co-ordination in the work to be done by the Architect and Project Advisor.
6] Non-planning of the Re-development Project Report.
7] Not adopting fair procedure for finalising the tenders.
8] Non-parity in the Agreements to be executed with the Developers.
Whereas, there was no concrete policy in the matter of complaints concerning all the above issues, Commissioner of co-operation and the Registrar of co-operative societies, Maharashtra State, Pune constituted a Study Group under the Chairpersonship of the Joint Registrar, co-operative societies, CIDCO to go into the complaints received at various levels and to consult all sections actually working in the concerned field. The said Study Group consulted all the sections of the co-operative Housing Sector and expressed an opinion about the advisability of drawing Guidelines for the redevelopment of buildings belonging to co-operative housing societies.
In view thereof, under section 79(A) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, the Government hereby issues the following directions:-
The following directions shall be treated as the directions for the re-development of buildings belonging to co-operative housing societies:-
1] Demand/Requisition for convening the Special General Meeting for the redevelopment of society building:-
It will be essential that not less than minimum 1/4th members of the co-operative housing society, where buildings are to be re-developed, should submit an application addressed to the Secretary of the Managing Committee of the society duly elected and constituted as per the Bye-laws and law, for convening the Special General Meeting of the society for deciding the policy in the matter of re-development of buildings belonging to the society, together with their schemes and suggestions about re-development of the buildings.
2] Convening of Special General Meeting:-
As per Direction No. 1 above, the Managing Committee meeting shall take note of the application within eight days of the receipt of application and the Secretary of the society shall convene a General Meeting of all the members of society within a month. The agenda of the meeting should be circulated to each member of the society fourteen days in advance and the acknowledgment thereof should be kept in the office of society.
Before convening such meeting, committee of the society shall obtain a list of the Architects/Project Management Consultants on the panels of Government/Local Authority and shall invite quotations from minimum 5 experienced experts for the preparation of Project Report/Project concerning the re-development of building and of these one expert shall be appointed at the Special General Meeting.
Following topic-wise business shall be transacted in the Special General Meeting.
- To take a preliminary decision on the re-development of society building after taking into consideration the requisition/demand of members as well as the suggestions received.
- To appoint an experienced Architect/Project Management Consultant with sufficient expertise from the panel of Government/Local Authority in the matter of re-development work of the building and to fix the terms/conditions and the aspects of their work.
- To present an outline of the programme of building re-development.
3] Accepting written suggestions of the members regarding building re-development:-
Members of the society can present their realistic schemes, suggestions and recommendations regarding the re-development of society building as well as the names of experienced Architects/project Management Consultants within their knowledge to the committee of society in writing, eight days prior to the date of meeting. However, they must present the letters indicating willingness of such Architects/Project Management Consultants to undertake the work of re-development.
4] Decision to be taken in the Special General Meeting:-
Special General Meeting convened for the re-development of building belonging to Co-operative Housing Society shall have the quorum of 3/4th of the total strength of members. For non-fulfilment of quorum, the meeting shall be adjourned for the next eight days and if the said meeting too lacks the quorum, it shall be assumed that the members are not interested in the re-development of society building and the meeting be accordingly called off.
On the fulfilment of quorum, all the suggestions, recommendations and objections put up by the members regarding the re-development of society shall be taken into consideration and the opinions expressed by all the members in this regard shall be recorded in the Minutes of the meeting with their individual names. Thereafter, a preliminary decision as to whether the building of society should be re-developed or not, shall be sanctioned by a majority vote of more than 3/4th members present. After the preliminary resolution regarding re-development is passed, following business shall be transacted in the meeting:-
(a) To appoint an experienced Architect/Project Management Consultant having sufficient expertise from the Panel constituted by the Government/Local Authority for facilitating the re-development of building and fixing the aspects of their work and terms and conditions thereof.
(b) To present an outline of the Programme concerning the re-development of building.
5] Circulation of Minutes of meeting to all members:-
Secretary of the society shall prepare minutes of the Special General Meeting and circulate a copy thereof to all members within ten days and keep an acknowledgment thereof in the office. Moreover, a copy shall be sent to the office of Registrar.
6] Appointment Letter to Architect/Project Management Consultant:-
Secretary of the society shall give the letter of appointment to the concerned Architect/Project Management Consultant appointed at the Special General Meeting within 15 days of the date of meeting and thereafter the committee shall enter into an agreement with the Architect/Project Management Consultant as per the terms and conditions sanctioned in the General Meeting.
7] Work to be done by the Architect/Project Management Consultant at the initial stage:-
(a) To carry out survey of the land and building of the society.
(b) To obtain information regarding conveyance of the society land.
(c) To obtain information regarding the availability on the land of FSI and TDR, after taking into consideration the relevant Regulations of MHADA/SRA/Municipal Corporation for the time being in force, in terms of the prevailing government policy and the ownership of land.
(d) To prepare a realistic Project Report after taking into consideration the residential area for the members, commercial area, open spaces, garden, parking, specifications regarding construction and such other factors in the light of the suggestions and recommendations regarding the re-development work, made by the members of the society.
(e) To prepare a Project Report and present the same to the committee of the society within a period of two months of the date when the Architect/Project Management Consultant was so appointed.
8] Action to be taken after the receipt of Re-development Project Report:-
(a) Secretary of the society, after receiving the Re-development Project Report as aforesaid, shall convene a Joint Meeting of the committee members and the Architect/Project Management Consultant for securing a majority sanction for the Project Report in the light of the suggestions made by the members. He shall put up a notice thereof on the notice board of the society, indicating such details as time and venue of the meeting. The said Notice will indicate that a copy of the Project Report so received would be available for the inspection of the members in the office of the society and would further apprise each member that they could present their suggestions in that regard, eight days prior to the committee meeting. An acknowledgment of such notice would be kept in the office record.
(b) Secretary of the society shall forward for consideration, the suggestions received from the members to the Architect/Project Management Consultant, 7 days before the Joint Meeting as described above.
(c) In the said Joint Meeting, all such factors as the suggestions/recommendations made by the members and the opinion of the Architect/Project Management Consultant would be elaborately discussed and the Project Report with the necessary changes therein, would be sanctioned with a majority vote. Thereafter a draft tender document would be prepared and the date, time and venue of the next joint meeting would be fixed for finalizing the draft tender document after discussion/consultation in that regard. While preparing the draft tender document, the Architect/Project Management Consultant shall keep either the carpet area or corpus fund constant (non-fluctuating) and fix other technical aspects, so that competitive bids can be received from the reputed and experienced developers possessing expertise. Moreover, the members of the society may also inform the reputed and experienced developers known to them in this regard.
9] Declaration of the List of received Tenders:-
(a) On the last day fixed for the receipt of tenders, Secretary of the society shall prepare a list of the tenders received and put up the same on the notice board of the society.
(b) Secretary of the society shall convene a Special General Meeting of the Managing Committee within 15 days of the last date for the receipt of tenders. Authorised representatives of the bidders and interested members of the society can attend this meeting as spectators. In this meeting, the received tenders will be verified and opened in the presence of all. The Architect/Project Management Consultant shall verify all the tenders and prepare a comparative chart. He shall verify such factors as the merit, reputation, experience and competitive rates of the applying bidders and shall shortlist minimum 5 tenders or where less than 5 tenders are received, as many number of tenders for the consideration of Special General Meeting and thereafter the concerned bidders shall be informed forthwith.
10] Selection of the Developer:-
(a) Appointment of the Authorised officer by the office of Registrar for the General Meeting.— An application accompanied by the list of members should be made within eight days to the Registrar for making an appointment of the authorised officer to represent the office of the Registrar of co-operative societies at the Special General Meeting of the society, at which meeting one of the shortlisted bidding developers is to be selected with the help of the consultant on the basis of their experience, merit, financial capability, technical competence, competitive rates and such other criteria in the presence of such representative. The Registrar will take a decision on such application and appoint an Authorised Officer.
(b) Convening of the Special General Meeting for finalizing the tenders.— Secretary of the society shall, with the prior permission of the Authorised Officer, decide the time and venue and convene a Special General Meeting for the appointment of a developer within one month after the Authorise Officer is so appointed. He shall despatch to all members, the Agenda of the meeting 14 days prior to such meeting, by hand delivery and Acknowledgment Due Post and keep the acknowledgements thereof in the society record. Moreover, the representative of the Registrar’s office shall arrange to keep their Authorised Officer present at the meeting where the tenders are to be presented. Furthermore, he shall make arrangements the video recording of the meeting at the expense of the society. At this meeting, except the bonafide members, no one else can remain present. Hence, it will be incumbent upon the members to attend the meeting with Identity Card. Before the re-development proposal is submitted for the sanction of the concerned Authority, it will be incumbent that the selection of Developer and other proceedings should be conducted in the presence of the Officer authorised by the Registrar.
(c) Non-fulfilment of Quorum at the Special General Meeting.— The Special General Meeting shall have the quorum of 3/4th of the total number of members. If the quorum is not fulfilled, the meeting shall be adjourned for the next eight days and if the said meeting too does not have the quorum, it shall be assumed that the members of the society are not interested in the re-development of the building and the meeting shall be accordingly called off; Thereafter, for the next one year the said topic shall not be brought again for the sanction for the Special General Meeting.
(d) Proceedings at the Special General Meeting regarding the selection of the Developer.— The Authorised Representative from the office of the Registrar shall attend this meeting and observe the proceedings. Moreover, after the requisite representatives and the authorised officer attend the meeting at the given time and on the fulfilment of quorum as aforesaid, the business of the meeting shall be transacted as follows:-
I To give comparative information about the tenders shortlisted for presentation (regarding the work of re-development).
II To present the bidders serially (Presentation regarding tenders).
III To select one Developer for carrying out re-development of the building, subject to the stipulated terms and conditions and finalisation of the tender.
IV To obtain consent of the selected developer.
V To give information about the further developments.
It shall be incumbent to obtain the majority vote in writing of minimum 3/4th members present at the meeting for sanctioning the appointment of the Developer. If the shortlisted developers or their representatives do not attend the meeting, their consent for the project shall be presumed and further proceedings shall be conducted.
11] Agreement to be executed with the Developer:-
The Managing Committee of the society shall, subject to the terms & conditions sanctioned by the General Meeting and pursuant to the guidance of the Architect/Project Management Consultant, execute an agreement with the Developer within one month.
Besides, the points suggested by the Architect/P.M.C appointed by the society, the Agreement shall include the following points as well:-
- The period for the completion of re-development project of the society shall not exceed two years and in the exceptional circumstances it shall not exceed 3 years.
- The Developer shall offer the society a Bank Guarantee to the extent of 20% of the value of the Re-development Project.
- During the period of re-development, the Developer as far as possible, shall provide alternative accommodation to the members in the same area pending the completion of the project or shall arrange to pay such monthly rent and deposit as agreed to by the members or shall make available such Transit Camps.
- The said Agreement shall be registered under the Registration Act, 1908.
- New members shall be admitted to the society only on the completion of the re-development project with the sanction of the General Meeting of the society.
- The Agreement should specify in clear terms the carpet area to be offered.
- The development right assigned to the Developer shall be non-transferrable.
- The members holding the premises shall vacate the premises only after all the requisite legal sanctions are accorded for the re-development of building.
- The rights of the persons who are in possession of the flats, shall remain intact.
- The Agreement executed with the contractor, Architect and the society must contain a provision for the resolution of any dispute that may arise during the course of re-development work under section 91 of the Act.
- On the grant of Occupation Certificate, the flats in the re-development building shall be allotted as far as possible according to the present situation of floors and if the “Draw of lots” becomes necessary for the disbursement of flats, the Developer should make arrangements for the Draw of lots on the completion of building. At such time, the flats should be disbursed by the Draw of lots in the presence of the Registrar’s representative and a video recording of the proceedings should be made.
- No committee member or an office bearer shall either be a Developer or related to him.
- The Building Plans sanctioned by the Municipal Corporation/Competent Authority must be presented again for the information of the General Meeting and if a member desires to obtain a copy of the sanctioned documents, he should tender a written application to the society and the committee shall be duty bound to furnish such information by charging reasonable fees therefor.
By the order and in the name of the Governor of Maharashtra.
Sd/-
(Dr. Sudhirkumar Goyal) Principal Secretary (Co-operation and Marketing)
Copy:-
1] Commissioner of Co-operation and Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Maharashtra State, Pune.
2] Divisional Joint-Registrar, Co-operative Societies (All).
3] District Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies (All).
4] Selection File (14-Sa).
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[© Translated by Adv. Prakash Manohar Chalke]