Kailash Apartments Resident Reports Corruption in Housing Society
Case: Kailash Apartments, Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Cooperative Group Housing Society (CGHS), Plot No. 2, Sector 4, Dwarka, New Delhi 110 078
CASE UPDATE: June 18, 2022
As the Kailash Apartments case is progressing, the following information is being added to the case file.
1. The President / Secretary / Management Committee (MC) of Kailash Apartments a.k.a. Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Cooperative Group Housing Society (DHM CGHS) did not respond to the notice given below by the stipulated date June 11, 2022. However, the Society MC’s delayed response of June 12 has been added below – toward the end of this article.
2. The DHM CGHS MC has emailed me dozens of documents related to their Society between June 12, 2022 and June 17, 2022. The DHM CGHS MC believes that these documents are related to the corruption complaint filed against the MC by the DHM CGHS resident Mr.Sankara Subbu.
3. After receiving the huge bundle of emailed documents from the DHM CGHS MC, I am in the process of studying them.
4. I have gathered from the covering text in the DHM CGHS MC emails and after throwing a cursory look at the attached documents that the DHM CGHS MC has raised some objections about the membership of the complainant Mr. Sankara Subbu.
5. The membership issue of Mr. Sankara Subbu is not at all connected with the corruption case of DHM CGHS MC members. The DHM CGHS MC is free to take any decision about Mr. Sankara Subbu’s membership in the precincts of law.
6. Instead of responding explicitly to the corruption allegations, the DHM CGHS MC is trying to obfuscate the alleged corruption and misappropriation of funds case with the irrelevant membership issue of Mr. Sankara Subbu.
7. As requested by DHM CGHS MC, I sent it two directives on June 14, 2022 from the office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of the Delhi Government – which clearly state that it is mandatory / compulsory for each society MC to make a website and ensure transparency of its operations.
8. The RCS order for making society website is supposed to be followed in letter and spirit by every society so that the society members, RCS office, and other stakeholders could get information effortlessly to reduce the chances of corruption.
9. Instead of making a proper website and putting all the information related to the corruption allegations on the website, the DHM CGHS MC is overloading me with undesired information.
10. It does not take more than a couple of days and without any expenses to make a website and upload information on it. To maintain desired confidentiality, the society should not hire any external vendor for the website creation or maintenance work. Every society should have in-house skills for website development, which is an easy job.
11. An efficiently managed society would have the knowledge of repeated RCS notices that direct the societies to make their own transparent websites. But the DHM CGHS MC members did not have this information as they asked me to send them the RCS notices.
12. But even after receiving the official RCS directives from me, the DHM CGHS MC has not yet informed me about the launch of the exclusive DHM CGHS website which should have all the updated information without any ambiguity.
13. As regards the case proceedings, I am in the process of collecting and discussing the rejoinder from the complainant Mr. Sankara Subbu. I am also in the process of collecting more information related to this case from other sources.
14. Initial reports allege that the DHM CGHS MC has been involved in a number of cases of corruption, misappropriation of funds, and other financial irregularities. Reports also allege that the DHM CGHS MC is intimidating the Society members with legal notices, court cases, and digital messaging with the aim to terrorize the members so that they do not question the alleged crimes of the DHM CGHS MC.
15. It is also alleged that the DHM CGHS MC is squandering huge money – which may be running into lakhs of rupees – on legal cases. The plethora of legal cases in a society is the first indication of crime and corruption in that society.
16. It is pertinent to mention here that the MCs are not supposed to spend society money contributed by the members on legal cases involving the members. If the MCs are spending public money on internal legal cases, it amounts to gross misappropriation of common society funds. And it is a cognizable offence.
17. It is learnt that the MCs in many housing societies are filing frivolous legal cases and false complaints against the members to frighten them so that they do not question the wrongdoings of the MCs. When the residents get any obnoxious legal notice from a complicit advocate, they can always complain against the advocate to get them debarred from legal practice.
18. The terrorized members / residents in housing societies are obviously forced to support the wrong decisions of the MCs in the general body meetings (GBMs) or the annual general meetings (AGMs). Therefore, the decisions taken by the MCs in these fraudulently held GBMs and AGMs are not valid. Particularly, the financial decisions taken in GBMs and AGMs cannot be imposed on all members.
19. The members / residents should not feel scared and must raise their voice against the criminality of their MC members. Since most MCs are controlled by corrupt people, the honest MC members must resign from their MCs to avoid public condemnation and legal hassles that can lead to their imprisonment.
20. All residents in different housing societies must understand that corruption in a society can happen even when the statutory account books such balance sheets, etc. are in order. These account books conceal more than what they reveal and actually used to hide financial irregularities in a society. Lack of transparency is the real sign of corruption.
21. As it happens with other investigations in criminal cases, I will take a few weeks or months to collect, process, and analyze all the information from different sources about the alleged crime and corruption cases of the DHM CGHS.
22. I might also seek police help or the expertise of other law enforcement authorities to get this case resolved so that the culprits, if any, could be punished according to the law.
23. Since the DHM CGHS MC is clueless about the working of a media outlet, it has asked me to remove the article from my news site, as the DHM CGHS MC claims that it has provided me with some information. Once published, no media article can be removed.
24. If the DHM CGHS MC asks me again for article removal, it will amount to an offence by the DHM CGHS MC to deliberately interfere in the working of a journalist and media organization. Then I will have to report this matter to the police and other authorities so that the DHM CGHS MC could be disciplined suitably.
25. As I am in the process of studying and analyzing the massive information that I have received, at this stage I do not expect more information from DHM CGHS MC and the complainant Mr. Sankara Subbu. In future, if I ask for more information, I expect them to send me a pointed response instead of burying me under some information garbage.
I will keep updating this page as the case progresses.
Thank You
Rakesh Raman
Editor, RMN News Service
Register Your Complaint: Residents in different housing societies can register their complaints by filling in a simple online form to report incidents of crime, corruption, intimidation of members by the MCs, and other irregularities in their societies. You can click here to register your complaint.
The previous case details of DHM CGHS are given below.
June 12, 2022
By Rakesh Raman
The crimes being committed by the management committee (MC) members of Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies are increasing rapidly. The MC members mostly commit these crimes and acts of corruption in connivance with the corrupt officials of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Police, and other government functionaries.
A resident of Kailash Apartments has reported a new case of corruption and misappropriation of funds to the “Clean House” service which reports about crimes in Delhi’s housing societies. After receiving the complaint through the online form, I sent the following notice to the MC of the Society with the request to respond by June 11, 2022. But the MC did not respond.
You can read the notice given below and watch the YouTube video of my conversation with the complainant Mr. Sankara Subbu.
Note: After this article was published today (June 12, 2022), I received the Society’s response which is given below this article.
To June 9, 2022
The President / Secretary
And all members of Management Committee (MC)
Kailash Apartments
Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Cooperative Group Housing Society (CGHS)
Plot No. 2, Sector 4, Dwarka, New Delhi 110 078
Copy: Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government and Delhi Police
Subject: Show Cause Notice for Allegations of Corruption, Misappropriation of Society Funds, Cheating, and Criminal Conspiracy against the Society MC.
Dear President / Secretary of Delhi Hindustani Mercantile CGHS,
I am a government’s national award winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. I also run many environment-protection and anti-corruption campaigns at the local and international levels. Moreover, I have been running an anti-corruption social service “Clean House” for the past 5 years to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in cooperative group housing societies (CGHS).
As I allow the harassed residents to register their complaints to the “Clean House” service through an online form, Mr. Sankara Subbu of Flat A31 in your Society has complained against the Society MC. In his complaint, Mr. Sankara Subbu has alleged that the Society MC has committed various crimes including corruption, misappropriation of society funds, cheating, and criminal conspiracy in a multi-lakh rupees Solar Power Project deal which was perpetrated in an illegal manner. He has also provided data and details of the deal which according to him is illegal. [ You can click here to read the 5-page letter dated June 6, 2022 from Mr. Sankara Subbu. ]
Among other charges, Mr. Sankara Subbu alleges that corruption is rampant in your Delhi Hindustani Mercantile CGHS whereas the MC is committing acts of corruption and fleecing the resident members at an alarming frequency. He adds that the MC also intimidates and threatens the residents who try to raise their voice against the criminality of the MC members. He also claims that he himself is a victim of defamation spewed against him by the Delhi Hindustani Mercantile CGHS MC members.
In order to run the Society affairs including financial transactions in an opaque manner, Mr. Sankara Subbu complains that the Delhi Hindustani Mercantile CGHS MC has not even made an exclusive Society website – which is a glaring violation of the government directive.
You must be knowing that the office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government has issued specific directions and it is mandatory to make a Society website to keep all the members informed of your activities in a transparent manner. Since you have not made an exclusive website to give up-to-date information to the Society members who hold financial stake in the Society, it amounts to a deliberate defiance of the government order which intends to ensure transparency and stop corruption in the Society.
With these details, I am giving you an opportunity to respond to the allegations made by Mr. Sankara Subbu against the Delhi Hindustani Mercantile CGHS MC. In your response to this show cause notice, you can add any other information from your side to put forward your point of view and explain why your case should not be reported to the law-enforcement authorities including the police so that an appropriate action could be taken in this case.
Please send me your response (preferably on email) positively by June 11, 2022. If I did not receive your response by June 11, 2022, it will be assumed that you have nothing to say in this matter and I will proceed to take this case forward and approach the police and other law-enforcement authorities with the information that I have.
Note: After receiving your response, I can also hold an online / virtual meeting with Delhi Hindustani Mercantile CGHS MC member(s) and Mr. Sankara Subbu to discuss and record this case. Please let me know if you want to participate in this online / virtual meeting to defend your action.
Contact
Rakesh Raman
Editor, RMN News Service [ Website ]
Founder, RMN Foundation [ Website ]
463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4
Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, India
Mobile: 9810319059 | Contact by Email
RESPONSE FROM THE SOCIETY
The Kailash Apartments / Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Cooperative Group Housing Society (DHM CGHS) MC had not responded by June 11, 2022 as I had requested. However, Mr. Alok Srivastava, Secretary of the Society, called me on my phone today (June 12) and subsequently sent an email about the allegations made by Mr. Sankara Subbu.
Although Mr. Alok Srivastava, DHM CGHS Secretary, has not yet responded to the allegations of corruption, he has raised concerns about the complainant Mr. Sankara Subbu’s membership in the Society. He has also sent me a few documents pertaining to his membership.
Mr. Alok Srivastava’s email dated June 12, 2022 at 1:55 p.m. is reproduced below.
Dear Mr. Raman
Being a responsible journalist you carry a great duty towards the society and the public and thanks for extending opportunity to express our stand on the matter.
The current mail sent by you citing the matter referred by Mr. Sanakara Subbu substantiates that he has not presented the truth before you.
Fact of the matter are as under :
1. Mr. Sanakara Subbu applied for his membership in May 2011 to the then administrator Mr P C Jain
2. After filing an application he disposed off his flat to his daughter in September 2011;
3. In June 2012 Mr. Sankara Subbu got the membership in his name despite the fact that he has disposed off his flat.
4. That he mutated the flat in SDMC and started paying house tax in the name of Indu Subbu as the 100% lady owner.
5. Mr. Sankara Subbu did not disclose the fact of disposal of flat either to the administrator or the management thereafter and continued enjoying every right of member till MArch 2021 when this fact came to light.
6. The MC issued a show cause notice to him seeking clarification of the above on 24.03.2021.
7. Resultant of the above, Mr. Sankara Subbu started posting s$$t (the word is masked because it is a vulgar word and cannot be published on our news site) on the whatsapp group of the society and putting false/baseless allegations on the MC members.
We understand, you being a senior journalist will certainly assess the purpose of Mr. Sankara Subbu.
We are enclosing herewith the documents in support of the above submissions as well as request you to not to be part of the conspiracy of Mr. Sanakara Subbu to corner the management committee.
We will provide the detailed report in respect of Solar Project as discussed in a couple of days..
Thanks and Regards,
Alok Srivastava
Secretary
DHMCGHS Ltd.
[ In his above response, Mr. Alok Srivastava has “requested me not to be part of the conspiracy of Mr. Sanakara Subbu to corner the management committee.” It is an affront and challenge to my work as a journalist, because I am not participating in any conspiracy. Mr. Alok Srivastava, Secretary, DHMCGHS, must be very careful in writing his response instead of using a loose language in his communications. ~ by Rakesh Raman ]
Note: I have not yet received the DHM CGHS response on the alleged corruption in the multi-lakh rupees Solar Power Project deal and the reasons for defying the RCS order for creating the Society website with updated information.
Rakesh Raman
June 12, 2022
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
He also runs the “Clean House” anti-corruption service which works like a community court to report about crime and corruption happening in Delhi’s group housing societies.
