The Brave Pedestrian

1st May, 2015, Mumbai: Many strangers call me every week from different parts of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane etc., tell me how their society is being herded by some builder towards redevelopment, and take some free advice about how to proceed further in their battle. Everywhere, the same story is being acted out: builders have pocketed the office-bearers by giving them inducements, and with their active cooperation, are in the process of seizing control of the entire property. Some general body members act like stooges of the office-bearers, and shout down the persons who ask questions at society meetings. But the bulk of general body members are like sheep being herded to the slaughterhouse; they are deeply worried, but they are afraid to take a stand at any given point of time. Every week, Maharashtra's cooperation department receives a dozen complaint letters from aggrieved society members, pleading for action against the office-bearers and the builders, who are subverting the...

Since redevelopment started in 1991 about two decades ago, and builders could augment the FSI (Floor Space Index) of the land by purchasing TDR (Transfer of Development Rights), cooperative housing societies started neglecting their structures. Seduced by builders who promise larger houses and new buildings, building societies have been keen to steamroll opposition to their redevelopment proposals by individual members by deliberately allowing their building to deteriorate, so that structural auditors can declare them as “dilapidated”. Earlier, it was a nightmare for a society to be told that its building was structurally unsound, and managing committee members and general body members alike were anxious to avoid it by regular re-plastering, painting and repairing. But in the last two decades, a report from structural engineers saying that the building is “dilapidated” or is in need of “major rapairs” has been the dream of every managing committee, because it legitimizes their quest ...

The main center of corruption in any Redevelopment scam is the managing committee of the housing society. Often managing committee members betray the society members’ trust by unduly favoring a particular builder. They barter  away the society’s bargaining points for money and favours. On 3rd January 2009, Govt of Maharashtra’s Co-operation Department issued strict guidelines for redevelopment. This is contained in Circular No. CHS 2007/CR554/14-C. It contains a Directive under Section 79(A) of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act 1960 for Housing Societies in Maharashtra regarding procedures and safeguards to be followed by societies seeking redevelopment. Corrupt office bearers who collude with builders usually violate these guidelines. •    REDEVELOPMENT CIRCULAR IN ENGLISH: http://tinyurl.com/English-Redevelopment-GR •    REDEVELOPMENT CIRCULAR IN MARATHI: http://tinyurl.com/Marathi-Redevelopment-GR You can try and stop the process by exposing bre...

Dear friends, We live in cooperative housing societies (CHS), but we usually fail to ensure that they work well. A major reason is that we lack the working knowledge of CHS functioning. This need not be the case; a wealth of useful information is available for study, thanks to activists like Jagdish Gianchandani who keep updating us with the latest amendments in the laws, important court orders, etc. Using inputs provided by Jagdish and others over 2011-12, we have set up this “knowledge-bank”, from where you can download essential information for Cooperative Housing Society dispute resolution and also smooth running.   CHS KNOWLEDGE BANK:    http://tinyurl.com/CHS-Knowledge-Bank     This bank has articles with tips and tricks for those battling Cooperative Housing Society problems, as well as relevant laws, rules, GRs etc – all in one place.    However, don’t be content with only making a withdrawal (i.e. downloading). You can also ma...

4th October 2013, Mumbai: Since redevelopment started in 1991 about two decades ago, and builders could augment the FSI (Floor Space Index) of the land by purchasing TDR (Transfer of Development Rights), cooperative housing societies started neglecting their structures. Seduced by builders who promise larger houses and new buildings, building societies have been keen to steamroll opposition to their redevelopment proposals by individual members by deliberately allowing their building to deteriorate, so that structural auditors can declare them as “dilapidated”. Earlier, it was a nightmare for a society to be told that its building was structurally unsound, and managing committee members and general body members alike were anxious to avoid it by regular re-plastering, painting and repairing. But in the last two decades, a report from structural engineers saying that the building is “dilapidated” or is in need of “major rapairs” has been the dream of every managing committee, because i...