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...

Cooperative housing societies are really “Uncooperative” housing societies. Argumentative flat-owners, habitually opposing one another, usually accept whatever clauses the developer and his lawyers include – and therein lies the tragedy. The builder usually gives Financial Bank Guarantees, which are more generalized and less safe than Performance Guarantees, and succeeds in safeguarding his own commercial interests, while making a fool of the society and its members. Housing societies, their office-bearers and their members generally have no idea of the financial risks that are being loaded on them. Chronically unwilling to spend money on and accept advice from serious legal professionals (as against aloo-chaaloo advocates), they accept unnecessary risks with a fatalistic statement: jo sabka hoga, woh hamara hoga. (Only those who have been living away from their houses for many years – usually without rent-allowance from builders – have any idea of the seriousness of these dealings...