Elections in small societies simplified

Mumbai: Housing Societies having members less than 200 have been given all powers to hold elections for their management committees by directly approaching empanelled observers designated by the cooperative department. The decision has provided relief to more than 50,000 housing societies.

The state government has made many changes in the Cooperative Societies Act for housing societies. Cabinet approved these amendments in the act to promulgate ordinance in this regard as the bill could not be placed in the Monsoon Session of the legislature.

Earlier provisions mandated the society to approach the sub-registrar who used to appoint the observer. As a result, the process used to get delayed and elections could not be held after expiry of the term of the management committee. This led to several disputes that are pending before the registrar.

Now, the department will declare the panel of the observer and the society can directly approach for conducting elections. A senior officer said that the election process in many small housing societies would become smooth now.

More than 60,000 societies are registered in Mumbai, Pune and Thane districts. The registrar has not given the power to verify the membership suo-moto or on the application. The government has made some changes in the procedure of recovery of dues and charging penalty among others. However, the powers of the committee have been curtailed in terms of charging exorbitant penalty on arrears.