Delhi Housing Societies Cannot Take Entry Fee from New Members and Tenants

Delhi Housing Societies Cannot Take Entry Fee from New Members and Tenants

The MC members of almost all housing societies behave as hardened criminals and refuse to obey the RCS directive or the court orders.

By Rakesh Raman

As the management committee (MC) members are committing acts of crime and corruption blatantly in cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) of Delhi, now they are extorting money from new members and tenants under the garb of “entry fee.”

When a new member comes into a housing society after buying the flat from the previous member or a tenant takes the flat on rent, the corrupt MC members force them to pay hefty money (which can be in lakhs of rupees) before they are allowed to enjoy full membership or resident rights.

The MCs forcibly take this money from the new residents under different labels such as entry fee, gate money, development fund, transfer fee, common good fund, etc. If a resident shows resistance, they are harassed by the MC members.  

The office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government has issued repeated directives which assert that the practice of charging entry fee is illegal and the president / secretary of the housing society will be held responsible for this transgression.

The RCS directive states that “Violation of this Directive will be viewed seriously and the President / Secretary of the concerned Society would be held responsible jointly and individually. Action will be taken against the Society under the provisions of the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act and Delhi Cooperative Societies Rules for any such violation.”

Moreover, there are multiple court rulings which conclude that the entry fee being imposed on members or tenants is an illegal activity by the MCs of housing societies. However, the MC members of almost all housing societies behave as hardened criminals and refuse to obey the RCS directive or the court orders.

Although it will depend on case to case, residents can file police complaints against their MC members by name under the organized crime category of newly introduced Bhartatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. 

Tentatively, the relevant Section is BNS 111, which covers extortion, economic offences, operating as a member of an organized crime syndicate (MCs in this case), intimidation, coercion, etc. to obtain direct or indirect material benefit including a financial benefit (entry fee in this case).

[ Also Read: Process for Residents to File Complaints Against Housing Societies in Delhi ]

CORRUPT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

Astonishingly, the RCS office does not take any punitive action against such rogue MC members. Since the corrupt MC members use public money of society members to apparently bribe the government officials, there is hardly any action taken against them.

Therefore, the MC members – in connivance with the government functionaries – commit crimes with impunity and openly defy the government directives, including the orders of courts and the directives of the RCS office which is the apex government department to deal with society affairs.

The RCS office knows that rampant criminal activities are happening in housing societies, but the RCS officials deliberately ignore the criminality of MC members who presumably bribe the RCS officials to circumvent the law and commit crimes.

In its order dated 15.04.2024, the RCS office admitted that the group housing societies are not even getting their accounts audited for years and hold Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and Special General Body Meetings (SGBMs) in an illegal manner to hide their financial crimes. [ You can click here to read the RCS order dated 15.04.2024. ]

However, the criminal MC members get off scot-free because they misuse the residents’ money for bribery and to defend the cases filed against them in courts.

Moreover, the RCS office ostensibly directs all societies to make their exclusive websites and upload all their information transparently on the websites so that corruption by MC members or administrators could be checked. 

However, almost all the housing societies blatantly defy the RCS orders about websites and keep committing crimes without any fear of punishment. [ You can click here to read one of the RCS orders about websites. ]

RAMPANT CRIMES IN HOUSING SOCIETIES

Likewise, the MC members of housing societies are committing various other crimes. These include lethal floor area ratio (FAR) construction which is causing enormous dust pollution, noise pollution, and accidents in housing society buildings where people are living. But the corrupt officials of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Police are not trying to stop this citywide construction crime.

Similarly, the MC members are misusing their authority to allocate parking space in society buildings. The Delhi High Court has ruled that only one car per flat will be allowed in housing society parking lots. But it is alleged that MC members take bribes to allow some residents to park more than one car in the common parking areas.

Since government officials at the RCS office, DDA, and Delhi Police are extremely corrupt and delinquent, they do not take any action against the criminal MC members of housing societies. It is alleged that the MC members use residents’ money to bribe the government officials regularly so that they should ignore their crimes. 

In this atmosphere of lawlessness, the residents who live in hundreds of group housing societies of Delhi are suffering and they have no forum where they could formally complain against their criminal MC members or administrators. The RCS officials simply ignore residents’ complaints filed by post and email or send perfunctory notices to the MC members without taking legal action against them.

Although the aggrieved residents or ordinary members of housing societies have the option to file their complaints through the online Public Grievance Monitoring System (PGMS) of Delhi Government or the Listening Post service of the Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi, both these online services are ineffective. 

The officials sitting behind PGMS or LG Listening Post are so corrupt and delinquent that they seldom resolve public grievances as no accountability is fixed for them. [ You can click here to read the complaint against PGMS and LG Listening Post. ]

As the filing of legal cases in traditional courts is quite cumbersome and legal services are very expensive, the residents of housing societies do not have any reliable administrative forum where they could get justice and relief from the criminality of MC members or administrators.

In this horrible situation, the residents must raise their voice forcefully against the crimes of their MC members. That means, they should not feel scared and send formal complaints repeatedly against the criminal MC members or administrators. And if required, they should hold street protests against corrupt MC members and complicit government officials.

[ VIDEO: You can click here to watch a related video in Hindi. It is also given below. ]

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.

He has also been running a community-driven anti-corruption social service “Clean House” for the past six years to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies where millions of people live.