Mumbai: Court sets aside jail term of housing society chief

Mumbai: A sessions court has set aside the conviction of a Dadar housing society’s chairperson who was sentenced to a three-month jail term by a city magistrate in 2014 for not conducting necessary repairs in the society.

The court held that the magistrate had not considered that he had resigned from the position two months before the notice was issued against him. Along with the 52-year-old chairperson, Vinod Shah, the residential complex Jasmine Co-operative Housing Society’s secretary, BV Patange, had also been sentenced to the same punishment. Both had also been imposed a fine of Rs10,000. The secretary, however, died pending the appeal.

Duo convicted under Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act

The duo had been convicted under a provision of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. In June 2010, the civic body’s junior engineer had inspected the building and found cracks in its beams and columns. He also found leakage from bathrooms, damaged and peeling plasters. The civic body issued a notice to the two office-bearers to conduct necessary repairs within two months. Among the repairs directed were water-proofing of the terrace, repair or replacement of waste water pipes and plastering of toilets. A case was lodged as repairs were not conducted despite the notice when the junior engineer visited the building in November that year.

Additional Sessions Judge SP Naik-Nimbalkar found that there was no proof that the notice had been served on the office bearers. The court said that the time given was insufficient considering the nature of repairs directed.

Additionally, the court said that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses depict an incongruent picture and that there was no convincing evidence. “On the basis of such vague and incomplete evidence, no finding of guilt can be based against the accused persons,” the judgment stated, while acquitting the accused.