Can the MC initiate a noconfidence motion against its office-bearers?
Dinesh Vijayan, Nerul
Yes. The MC can initiate a no confidence motion against any office-bearer. One of the MC members should move the motion of no-confidence against the office-bearer concerned. The requisition to call for a special meeting to consider the motion of noconfidence shall be made in Form M-18. Such requisition shall be supported by the grounds of no-confidence, the text of the motion to be moved, the name of the member who proposes to move the same, list of MC members specifying their full names and addresses.
A minimum one-third of the eligible members are required to sign the no-confidence motion. It is necessary that the signatures of the committee members are duly attested by an SEM or a gazetted officer of the government. The requisition should be filed with the registrar and if the same is found in order, the registrar is required to issue a notice within seven days specifying the name and designation of the officer who shall be presiding over the special meeting.
The presiding officer is required to put the motion to vote and declare the results without speaking or giving any decision on the merit or otherwise of the noconfidence motion. The no-confidence motion is to be passed by twothird members present at such a meeting and entitled to vote.
The presiding officer will issue a certificate in Form M-19 in favour of the society certifying the resolution passed there at. Please refer to rule 57A of the MCS Rules and Bye Law 130 for the detailed procedure in this regard.
If a committee member has not been informed in writing about the acceptance or rejection of his / her resignation, will it be deemed to have been accepted?
Namita Prabhunerurkar, Kandivali
Bye Law 130 provides for the resignation of a committee member. A member of the committee may by a letter addressed to the chairman resign. The resignation will be effective from the date it is accepted by the committee or on expiry of a period of one month from the date of the receipt of letter, whichever is earlier. Thus, if the committee does not communicate in writing about acceptance or rejection of the resignation, it will be considered as accepted.
We have 25 members in our society. Is it true that a newly-formed MC not having a quorum cannot co-opt a member within two-and-ahalf years of its constitution?
Jayesh Shahani, Malad
The quorum in your case shall be six as per Bye Law 114. The committee shall not be competent to transact any business unless there is the quorum at the time of consideration of every item on the agenda of the meeting. If your MC has less than six members, the MC itself will be invalid.
Rule 74 of the MCS (Election to Committee) Rules mandates the committee has to report the occurrence of such a vacancy to both the State Cooperative Election Authority (SCEA) and the District Cooperation Election Officer. The vacancy must be filled within one month by nominating an eligible member from the same class of members for which the vacancy occurred. The term of the co-opted or nominated member will be the same as that of the MC. However, the number of nominated members cannot exceed onethird of the total committee strength.
The questions are answered by Sharmila Ranade, a legal expert associated with Mumbai Grahak Panchayat. The questions, in brief, may be sent to fpjchs@gmail.com.
