RAOA BYE-LAWS
Byelaws aim at strengthening the process of integration. The Road Map for integration was described in the Preamble to the then draft ‘Amended Byelaws’ circulated by then President, RAOA, in Dec. 07. It had following points:
a) No. of members to be elected building-wise for the Governing Body was fixed but all members of the Complex to be involved in voting for all candidate.
b) Maintenance Committee for each building to have 3 members – 2 from the same building, including the Coordinator, and 1 from the other building – involvement, better understanding & transparency - third member not authorised to sign cheques.
c) To adopt a common system of management of maintenance, to be recommended by the Governing Body and adopted by the members in a general meeting, after ascertaining the efficiency and economy of the methods being followed at present.
d) To bring the facilities for each building at part as much as possible but since difference would still remain, to fix single maintenance charges and adding thereto a surcharge based on the facilities available.
The first two were incorporated in the Byelaws and the other two were proposed to be acted upon by further amending the Byelaws after a year or so after the levels of understanding and confidence among each other increased.
The Vice President, Ivory Committee, circulated the draft among the Ivory residents but his counterpart in Heights & Rakshak did not give this privilege to the residents there, rather wrong picture was presented.
The Byelaws were discussed in the General Body meeting on the 16th March 2008 and were adopted with a few amendments.
Questions were raised in the Meeting on the 31st August 08 that the Byelaws were confusing and did not give enough clarity on certain matters. Let all of us understand that Byelaws are not untouchable but are always open to amendments as & when required. I, being a member and coordinator of the Byelaws Committee, would, however, like to detail hereunder a few clauses which answer to the points raised in the said meeting.
1.The power of governance is vested with the Governing Body. The office-bears – President, Secretary and Treasurer – are product of the Governing Body and have no authority to bypass any decision of the parent (Cl. 4.e.i and 19).
2. The Maintenance Committees for each building to be nominated by the Governing Body from among the members of the Governing Body (Clause 20.a).
3. The President is the Chief Executive Officer and will preside over the meetings of the Governing Body and the General Body. He can appoint committees from among the members of the Association to assist in the conduct of the affairs (Clause 35).
4. Those entitled to vote in the election of Members of Governing Body have been described in Cl. 10. It needs no further clarification that those who can vote can also attend meetings of the general body.
5. AGM is held only once in a year. The day for holding AGM has been specified in Cl. 13, as also the agenda. Order of business for the annual general meetings has also been specified (Cl. 17).
6. As to when the Special Meetings of the members be held has also been specified – 1st meeting to be held at 10 A.M. on the last Sunday of May for delineating the plan for the year and presenting budget by the President (C. 14.1). The order of business for the annual general meetings has also been specified.
7. Subsequent Special Meetings of the members to be held on the 1st Sunday of each quarter at 10.30 A.M. to apprise the members of the actions/inactions during the quarter and plan for the next quarter (Cl. 14.b).
8. Notice, including agenda, to be issued by the Secretary giving 7 days’ time (Cl. 15). This Clause also specified as to when the AGMs and Special Meetings ought to be held.
9. When to hold Special Meetings? Point was raised by the President in the last Special Meeting held on 31.08.08 that such meetings should be held once in 3 months as per the Byelaws. I would like to clarify, with whatever knowledge I have, as under:
9.a) A year consists of 12 month or 4 quarters of 3 months each. For the 1st Special Meeting, the month May is mentioned but for subsequent months the mention is ‘1st Sunday of the quarter’. A quarter of a year is understood as a period of 3 months ending March, June, September and December in all circles – government, corporate or social. Reading of the last sentence of Cl. 15 confirms – ‘Notice of the Meeting’ further confirms above: “……..Annual Meeting shall be held on the first Sunday of May and special meetings will be held on the last Sunday of May (for presentation of the budget) and First Sunday of every quarter. Additional Special Meetings may be held from time to time as required”.
9.b) That the quarter means 3 months ending June, September, December etc. is further confirmed in Cl. 50.b which reads:
“The Board shall notify the quarterly financial statements the quarters ending June, September and December by the 15th of the following month.”
If doubt still persists, the clarification can be sought from the members in a general body or even the Byelaws can be amended, if required.
10. Holding of Special Meetings of the members on 1st Sunday of every quarter has not been left to the sweet will and convenience or discretion of the Governing Body but has been made a directive of the members of the Association through Byelaws keeping in view the happenings in the last 2 years when the general body meetings were not held because of differences among the members of the Governing Body at the cost of the Complex. The members are supposed to know as to when the above meetings are to be held so that they can be present even without a notice. The members present have even been empowered to remove any member of the Governing Body or the entire Governing Body for failing to hold the Special Meeting on due date (Cl. 14.c).
11. The Byelaws clearly provide for the Quorum for each meetings (Cl. 9), for adjournment of the meetings due to lack of quorum and holding of adjourned meetings (Cl. 16).
12. Chapter III (Clauses 11 to 17) is titled Administration and deals with the powers and duties of the Association and of general meetings.
13. Chapter IV (Clauses 18 to 31) deals with The Board of Managers, its working, meetings, election of its office-bearers, etc. and Chapter V (Clauses 32 to 38) with the Office Bearers.
14. A question is normally asked as to the formula for sharing of the Common Area expenses. The Haryana Apartment Owners Act and the Declaration filed by the original owner, i.e. Unitech, under the Act, provide that the Voting rights for each apartment in the Complex are based on the percentage of value of each apartment, as conveyed in the original Conveyance Deed between Unitech and the original buyer, vis-à-vis the total value of the building(s). A detailed statement is given in the Declaration on the basis of the provisions in the Act. The owner-ship of the common areas is also in the percentage. Therefore, the cost of maintenance of the common areas also has to be in the same percentage. The rate is no doubt to be fixed by the Association but the percentage remains the same.
In our Byelaws, now in vogue, the voting rights are as one vote per apartment. Therefore, the ownership should also be in the same ratio and so also the share in the common area expenses.
15. Another point normally raised whether a member of RAOA can be appointed to any office of the Association on payment of remuneration/fee. Clause 26 prohibits only the members of the Board of Managers.
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