Maharashtra Co-operation Department, issues the Order for fixing Schedule of fees payable to Auditors under the signature of a Desk- Section Officer, of the Housing Section 14-C.

The Department of Co-operation has done it again. After avoiding to address the issue of Appointment of Auditors for nearly a year, as hastily made in 2013 & which were struck down twice in 2013, by the Hon’ble High Court,  things started to creak ahead recently.

The latest in the series is the Order dated 29/10/2014, regarding the Scale of fees payable to an Auditor issued under uncited section/rule, by the officer, which is shocking & surprising.

Besides the provision of Section 81-1-f of the amended act 2013, as relied upon by the Section Officer is misplaced & goes against the clear mandate of the law.

Section 81-1-f reads, “(f) The remuneration of the auditor or auditing firm of a society shall be borne by the society and shall be at such rate as may be prescribed.”

Section 165-2-xlvii deals with  prescribing the procedure for appointment of auditors under sections 75 and 81 and fees to be paid to such auditors

Now the term “prescribed” means, as per section 2-21 of the MCS act means Prescribed by rules.

The Schedule of Scale/rate of fees payable to Auditors have to be in the form of an amendment to Rules, just like, Society Registration fees, under Rule 4, Education Fund under Rule 53 & Rate of Court fees under Rule 86 & Dispute fees under Rule 86A of the MCS Rules, calling for prior objections from public on the Draft Rules, considering them & then placing them before both the houses of the State legislature for approval & enforcement, as it involves a legislative exercise. The quoted figures for fees in numerals & the various heads under the types of societies are an inseperable part. The mandate of the act require a legislative process & not an executive fiat in the form of any order under Section & 79A or 157 of the MCS act. What has been sought to be done hastily, in the instant case, is that the legislative power to fix, specify & notify the rate has been bypassed & infact usurped by the executive which is neither the intention nor can be drawn by implication from the legal provision. The MCS Amended rules, 2013 have not been reportedly notified as of date, nor are the rules published on the websites of the State Govt. Co-operation Department or the Registrar Co-operative Societies Pune office. Even otherwise it is settled law in numerous apex court & hc orders, that the term State Govt. referred to in any statute means the minister incharge of the particular department & the act precedes & over-rides the rule & all other orders, notifications, if they are inconsistent with the act. The present Order has been issued by the Housing Section 14-C of the department despite it only dealing with coop. hsg. society matters, whereas all legal & universally applicable orders to all societies are issued by the Legal cell desk-section 15-C of the Co-operation Department. The rules, regulations, orders & notifications are traditionally, customarily & mandatorily issued under the hand & signature of the Secretary to the department & certainly not a desk-section officer as is in the case on hand.

Protocol & Office procedure both appear to have been dented severely, leading to the said Order being declared as ultravires, nullity & struck down later.

Maha Gr on fixation Scale of fees for all co-operative Societies. Hsg. Socities on Page 16.

Courtesy: Mr.Jagdish Gianchandani​

Enclosed herewith are the latest Model Bye-Laws for Co-operative Housing Societies under the Maharashtra State Co-operative Societies Act, duly amended (upload date 8/10/2014 (version dt. 2-9-2014))

Model Bye Laws of Coop Housing Society New Flat owner Type (2-9-14)

For Bye-Laws of other types of Co-operative Societies in Maharashtra Click Here

Election_Rules_Final

Latest amendments made on 30th Aug,2014  to the MCS Rules, 1961

This article deals with certain naked and stunning facts about the Economic and Fiscal Mismanagement in many Housing Societies about the wilful suppression of various financial affairs which are never brought by any of the Office Bearers to the knowledge of the innocent and gullible Members of the Society.

To recourse such fraudulent management of Society’s fund, once the audit is done the Members can appoint outside chartered accountant to scrutinize the Audited Accounts if they feel that there is any misappropriation. To prevent frauds, Members should meet Office Bearers at least once a month for informal discussions on Society matters.

The Section 83 of MCS Act stipulates that the financial loss incurred by the Society on account of fraudulent acts of the Office Bearers is recoverable and punishable offence. The Members can complaint to Dy. Registrar of Co-op. Dept. under Section 83 for investigation and recovery of losses caused to the Society. To complain under Section 83, 1/3rd of the Members signature is required as per the Act on the complaint letter.

Thus, if one third of the Members of a Society make request to the Dy. Registrar to hold an inquiry regarding its financial mismanagement, the Officer or his Nominee is duty bound to conduct such an inquiry. The Dy. Registrar may direct the complainants to deposit a sum of nominal amount with him and this amount can be forfeited if the allegations made against the Office Bearers turns out to be malicious.

Click Here for the full detailed article by Dilip Shah

Sub-Section 4 of Section 166 inserted by the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act 2013:

“(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, as amended by the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2013, but subject to the provisions of sub-section (15) of section 73CB, the committees of which the elections become due after the 31st March 2013, shall continue till the elections to such societies are held under the provisions of this Act as amended by the said Act.

Hopefully new State Government will attend the above unfinished agenda expeditiously i.e. before March 31 2015 so new cooperative year has a new Committee.

Click Here for the detailed, explanatory article from Indian Co-operative

This piece from Jeby Patel may also help – CURRENT LEGAL SCENARIO FOR ELECTION IN CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES AS PER 97TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ACT – ACC

Scheduled time limit of 30.09.2014 for AGM is over for ALL the Co-operative Housing Societies in Maharashtra.

Read the full article – Click Here

3 Kinds of ‘Tenants’ and their rights

What are the rights of statutory tenant, lessee and licensee?

Letting out premises is a sensitive issue. Both landlords and tenants turn hawkish in any discussion on this. The battle of owners versus occupiers would turn less hostile if each understood their limits, claiming only that which is rightfully theirs. There can be roughly three kinds of occupation – statutory tenant, lessee and licensee. Described below are the rights of each of them.

DIVYA B MALCOLM 28/07/2014 03:20 PM  http://www.moneylife.in/article.print_edition.php?id=38233