State govt proposal to extend term of administrators irks housing societies
The state government’s proposal to extend the term of administrators for cooperative housing societies to one year from the existing six months has stirred up controversy
The state government’s proposal to extend the term of administrators for cooperative housing societies to one year from the existing six months has stirred up controversy.
An administrator is appointed by the registrar upon complaints by society members and if he finds it is a fit case to expel the managing committee (MC).
The appointment can be on the grounds such as misuse of funds by MC, non-compliance with norms like failure to get the society accounts audited annually or failure to conduct the mandatory annual general body meeting, and violation of guidelines.
The administrator gets six months to restore order in the society and conduct fresh elections for the appointment of a new MC.
However, these administrators over the years, instead of redressing the grievances and straightening things out, have allegedly focused on siphoning off money from the coffers.
Chanakyapuri Cooperative Housing Society at Lallubhai Park, Andheri, is a case in point. “The administrator spent ₹40 lakh on repairs of our building. The contractor did a shoddy job and our entire repair funds and bank fixed deposit were exhausted,” Mukund Parekh, society’s former chairman, said.
Advocate Vinod Sampat, who deals in real estate matters, said the functioning of administrators is questionable. “They hardly visit the societies assigned to them. They are more interested in dealing with contractors and spending society funds arbitrarily. They don’t address the grievances of members and smoothen things out.”
Ideally, administrators should be professionals like chartered accountants, doctors or lawyers as they will bring professionalism in management and are accountable to their respective governing bodies, he added.
The Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MSWA), an association of housing societies, has opposed the state cooperation department’s proposed move. “Six months is adequate to get a housing society in order. In fact, we have been demanding this be reduced to three months,” said Ramesh Prabhu, MSWA chairman.
He said ideally, some resident from the said society should be appointed instead of a government official. “It is ironic that when the state government is investigating the appointment of some 500 administrators in the MMR [Mumbai Metropolitan Region], their term is being extended.”
State cooperation minister Balasaheb Patil justified the move, saying it was taken in view of the current circumstances. “There is so much infighting among society members that we are forced to extend the term of the administrator. Even we are not interested in burdening our staff but the circumstances are such that we are forced to intervene.”
He, however, ruled out appointing residents as administrators. “Residents are already fighting among themselves and appointing one of them will lead to more chaos.”
According to MSWA, there are approximately 1.25 lakh housing societies in Maharashtra. Over 70,000 of them are located in the MMR, while 35,000 are in Mumbai.