Residents Allege Extortion at New Ashiana Housing Society in Dwarka

The residents of New Ashiana CGHS allege that the MC members of the Society are involved in blackmailing and extortion cases and forcing the residents to pay them money. The RCS office of Delhi Government is not responding.

By Rakesh Raman

As the illegal activities in Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) are increasing at an alarming rate, a new case of “blackmailing and extortion” by the management committee (MC) members of a society has been reported.

The residents of New Ashiana CGHS Ltd. (Plot No. 10, Sector 6, Dwarka, New Delhi 110 075) allege that the MC members of the Society are involved in multiple cases of corruption and forcing the residents to pay them money.

The residents have informed RMN News Service (which runs a community-driven online editorial section called “Clean House” to report about corruption and lawlessness in Delhi’s housing societies) that they are being fleeced by the MC members of New Ashiana CGHS.

Although RMN News Service had written an email to the the President / Secretary of the Society to have their views on the allegations, they did not respond.

The distressed residents say that they had approached the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government with the request to save them from the “dishonest practices” of the MC, but the RCS office ignored their request.

“Due to the inaction of the RCS office, the might of the (New Ashiana CGHS) MC has risen to the extent that it has started extortion and blackmailing in the society,” the residents said in their complaint.

They allege that the MC members did not pay the ground rent of leasehold flat owners to Delhi Development Authority (DDA) although they had taken the money from the members.

When DDA demanded the money, the MC members paid the money collected for water meters even from freehold flat owners – which needs to be investigated as a case of fraud.

In their representation of December 6, 2017 to the higher authorities, the residents – who do not want to reveal their identities at this stage because of the vindictive behaviour of the MC – have sought directions for the RCS office.

They expect RCS officials to stop the “opaque, unethical, obstructionist and vested activities, and functioning of the MC” of New Ashiana CGHS.

Clean House

As millions of common residents in Delhi are victims of the terror unleashed by the MC members of different cooperative group housing societies, I have started an exclusive community-driven online editorial section under the banner “Clean House” to help the suffering residents raise their voice against the growing injustice.

If you want Clean House to report about corruption and other illegal activities happening in your housing society, you may please contact me with relevant documents and details.

Click here to visit Clean House.

The affected residents of New Ashiana CGHS have also described a case of building repairs – worth over Rs. 1 crore – which was carried out by the MC without proper evaluation of the damage and without following proper tendering procedures. According to the residents, the MC had an offer to get the same work done at just Rs. 24 lakh. The flat owners were forced to pay their shares of the money.

As the New Ashiana CGHS MC prefers to work in a dishonest manner, it has not created a Society website despite repeated notifications from the RCS office which has directed the societies to put all the information on website to run the society affairs transparently.

As it is happening in almost all the housing societies, the residents of New Ashiana CGHS complain that their MC holds General Body Meetings (GBMs) in a totally fraudulent way and imposes its diktats on all members despite objections.

Most residents contend that the RCS office must not allow MCs to impose any financial decisions on members as most of them are not in a position to fulfill the demands of the MCs which are mostly working as money-grabbing gangs.

In order to swindle public money, the MC members in almost all housing societies start high-value construction and building repair projects and force the residents to pay money after manipulating the decisions in unscrupulous GBMs.

The same is now happening at New Ashiana CGHS where residents complain that the MC members have decided to embark upon a high-value construction project worth crores of rupees under the ambiguous floor area ratio (FAR) rules.

Despite objections by residents – who oppose FAR construction because of dust and noise pollution as well as high costs – the New Ashiana CGHS MC has decided to go ahead with FAR construction after getting the decision approved in a shady GBM held on December 3, 2017.

In order to extort money, the MC members are forcing flat owners to sign undertakings under coercion. According to the residents, the MC members allow the entry of guests, workers, and tenants into their freehold flat only if they promise to pay illegally demanded money in projects such as FAR construction.

Most residents in group housing societies believe that the FAR construction projects have increased the level of corruption in DDA, as the DDA officials are bending building and environment rules to give permissions for illegal projects.

RMN News Service has found that almost all FAR construction projects in inhabited group housing societies are illegal as they violate building as well as environment- protection laws. As such construction activity is also spreading lethal dust and noise pollution, it is depriving people of their fundamental right to live in a clean environment.

Residents, therefore, urge DDA to stop all ongoing FAR construction projects and DDA and other government agencies should not sanction the new FAR proposals.

The residents also observe that the RCS office as well as RCS rules have lost their relevance as they repeatedly fail to protect the interests of common citizens who are suffering under the cruelty of MC members.

Residents urge the government to redevelop the RCS rules and make RCS office more effective in order to curb corruption and unlawful activities in group housing societies.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page tech business column (named Technophile) regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group).

Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. He also runs a free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.