Nehal G Kumar, Thane.
Any licenced electric contractor (LEC) is not expected to do such unsafe work. The electricity supply company is responsible for wiring only up to meter box. Beyond that it is the responsibility of the society or owner of the building. The managing committee should advise the member to remove the unsafe wiring, which is putting the life and property ofthe residents at risk. Your society may engage the services of a chartered electrical safety engineer for periodical audit. Due to scarcity of chartered electrical safety engineers, such an audit is not compulsory. If there is no corrective action, a complaint may be filed with the government. Electrical engineer (suburbs) at Bandra (East) for buildings in the suburbs and government electrical engineer (city) at Mumbai Central for buildings in the island city.
Can a member challenge the recovery certificate issued by the registrar. If yes, what is the procedure?
Sumeet Radhakrishnan, Nerul
Yes, an appeal in the form of revision exists. Section 154 of the MCS Act provides for the revision of orders of the registrar. The state government, suo motu or on an application received, can call for the record of the proceedings to satisfy itself as to the legality, propriety of the decision, or the regularity of the proceedings. The appeal lies with the government. Such a revision application has to be made within two months of the date of communication of the order. The government may condone the delay if the applicant shows that there is sufficient cause for not making the application in the given time period. The applicant has to deposit with the society 50% of the recoverable amount. If the revision application is allowed, the registrar will direct the society to refund the amount to the applicant.
In case a stay has been granted on the order issuing recovery certificate, the government shall dispose the application within six months of the date of the first order. However, if any interim order has been passed ex-parte, the final order shall be passed on merits within three months after giving an opportunity to be heard to the other side. The powers of the government under this section may also be exercised by the secretary to the government. The government may revise, alter or amend the order on merit after hearing both the parties.
Our society has 30 buildings. It had passed a resolution that each building will bear its own expenditure for painting. Some members are not contributing to the painting expenses. The society is not ready to include this expense in the bill of such members and assist us to recover the amount from them. Please help.
Subrato Bhattacharjee, Powai
If your society has passed a resolution to levy certain expenses building-wise, the same has to be paid by all the members of each building. However, the society cannot ignore its responsibility to recover the common expenditure from the defaulting members. Thesociety shall include such charges in the monthly bill and also levy interest in case the said charge is not paid in time. Taking shelter of their resolution for not initiating the process may be against the provision of the Bye Law 169, which provides for the list of commonexpenditures which are required to be borne by the society. Any resolution to the contrary will not hold the test of law.
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
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