Website for All Delhi Housing Societies to Stop Corruption

Website for All Delhi Housing Societies to Stop Corruption

By Rakesh Raman

In order to stop corruption, the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) office of Delhi Government had asked all the housing societies to make their websites to increase transparency in their operations. But the criminal management committee (MC) members of most housing societies blatantly refused to follow the directions of the RCS office.

I have sent the following letter to the authorities so that they could enforce this basic regulation of website creation to ensure transparency and stop corruption in Delhi’s housing societies.

As members of these housing societies, you should also formally ask the MC of your society to create a website and update it regularly. My letter is given below.

To                                                                                                                   January 22, 2021

Mr. Arvind Kejriwal
Chief Minister
Delhi

Mr. Anil Baijal
Lt. Governor (LG)
Delhi

Copy: Mr. S. N. Shrivastava, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Delhi

Subject: Website for All Cooperative Group Housing Societies to Ensure Transparency and Stop Corruption

Dear Sirs,

I am a journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. I run various anti-corruption campaigns and publish The Integrity Bulletin magazine that covers international corruption cases and related news. In order to report about the increasing crime and corruption in Delhi’s Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS), I have been running an anti-corruption social service “Clean House.”

As corruption is increasing exponentially in housing societies which are mostly managed by local criminals who operate as the management committee (MC) members, millions of residents are facing extreme harassment and persecution. The corrupt MC members of different housing societies are committing a range of crimes such as cheating, extortion, bribery, illegal surveillance, environmental damage, illegal sale of car parking space, human rights violations, and so on.

In this citywide crime and corruption enterprise, the MC members of housing societies are supported by corrupt bureaucrats mainly at Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) office of Delhi Government, and also by builders’ mafia. Although many of these Delhi bureaucrats have been imprisoned for their corrupt practices, rampant corruption is still happening at DDA and RCS offices.

In order to stop corruption, the RCS office had asked all the housing societies to make their websites to increase transparency in their operations. According to the government notification issued in 2015 by the RCS office, the step has been taken to ensure transparency in the working of the societies and to access their data online. The notification also asserted that the website creation is mandatory / compulsory for each housing society. 

The RCS office had directed the MCs of societies to submit their website address to the RCS office within 45 days from the date of the notification. The RCS office also warned the MCs that if they failed to comply, actions as per law may be initiated.

However, even after 5 years of this notification, the criminal MC members of most housing societies blatantly refused to follow the directions of the RCS office. They  have brazenly defied the government’s regulatory advice. Only a handful (estimated 5%) of housing societies have their website and even these websites are not being updated with relevant information because the MCs tend to cheat the society members.

Astonishingly, the RCS officials do not ask the housing societies to make and update their websites. In other words, the RCS officials are not inclined to enforce their own regulations because they are being apparently bribed by the corrupt MC members of housing societies who prefer to hide their criminal acts. Thus, the top RCS officials are operating hand in glove with the MCs of housing societies to run this criminal racket.

REQUEST FOR ACTION

Although a total transformation is required at the RCS office for its officials to work honestly and efficiently, you can begin by implementing the website regulation for housing societies. If a housing society does not make its website immediately and update it regularly, it should be construed as a criminal offence on the part of the MC members for which they must be prosecuted under the DCS Act and / or the IPC (Indian Penal Code).

Besides other relevant information such as financial transactions, appointment of vendors, internal and external communications, the website should allow the members to register their complaints online. And all communications between the members and the MCs should be available on the society website. If the MC of a housing society fails to update the website or upon receipt of a complaint from a member, the RCS office should immediately initiate criminal proceedings against the MC members.

As the complaints are increasing from the society members, the RCS office should also revamp its own website and make an online form for the residents so that they could file their complaints against their MCs or even RCS officials. All these steps must be taken immediately in order to weed out corruption from the RCS office as well as the housing societies.

Please take action immediately by issuing a government notification for all the Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi to make their individual website and update it regularly with all the relevant information to satisfy the needs of all the residents. This step will reduce the lawlessness and ensure smooth functioning of housing societies.

Please let me know the action that you have taken. 

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
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