State Administrative powers under the said Society Act on RWAs have virtually crippled a number of RWAs in Gurgaon. Recent history, listed below, of the woes of Progressive Residents Welfare Forum, A Block, SL-1, highlights why these powers need to be revisited by government and political authorities.
Formation of Progressive Residents Welfare Forum (Regd) – PRWF, A Block, S.Lok-1- The RWA( Executive Body), in order to make itself more inclusive, called an open house of all A Block Property owners in Nov 2019. Residents were asked to enlist as members of the RWA, so fresh elections of the Executive body could be conducted by a Returning Officer.
A.L. Baveja, a resident and veteran having conducted SLRWA elections in the past was a unanimous choice. Mr Baveja Issued a Notice of Election Schedule in December 2019 and called for nominations for five posts ie President, V.P., Gen Sec., Joint Gen, and Treasurer, plus two Executive Members as per PRWF Memorandum of Association (duly Registered with District Registrar Gurgaon) and forwarded copy to District Registrar. As there was only one nomination per each post, the office bearers including 2 Executives were declared elected unopposed and results were intimated to District Registrar for official approval in January 2020.
At this stage, a few disgruntled residents filed a complaint to the Registrar, questioning the last Executive’s authority to initiate the election process and an official RO be appointed to conduct fresh elections. They also lodged a complaint, on the CM window. Consequently, the Registrar without notice to the RO Mr Baveja, appointed Admn/RO, in February 2020; his salary 25000/ plus a staff and misc to be borne by PRWF.
The elected Executive body handed over complete charge, including Bank Account details to the RO, as per the directions of the Registrar. The RO was allowed to operate from the Deputy Mayor’s( MCG) office in A Block. He collated property owners details from the MCG and duly issued a list of members with schedule for objection in April 2020, which was followed by a schedule for the election of the Executive Body.
Once more, another complaint was filed with DR blaming insufficient publicity about elections and the election process was derailed. RO cum administrator struggled for six months, and once all monetary contributions were depleted, left the post without handing over charge to the District Registrar/ previously elected Executive Body.
Undeterred, the Executive body( previous) members still followed up with the District Registrar to appoint an Ad-Hoc body to manage PRWF affairs and also hold elections by following due process. And yet again, there were fresh objections by the same three-four residents, stating that with SLRWA in C block, A Block Forum is unnecessary duplication and cost to residents.
To further complicate the matter, a complaint against PRWF by some residents was repeated before State Registrar Chandigarh too in 2021, forcing defending residents to engage Advocates to defend at Chandigarh and Gurgaon apart from their own personal visits to Chandigarh and Gurgaon at their own costs from time to time until State Registrar favourable order in December 2022 stating all Blocks can have respective forums irrespective of SLRWA of Sushant Lok-1. Consequently, an Ad hoc Body of three members was approved by the District Registrar in Dec 2022, an open house of A Block residents in February 2023 was called to elect an RO. Promptly the same set of residents filed objections to the District Registrar and fresh hearings restarted.
Four District Registrars have come and gone hearing the same objections from the same set of residents and fifth DR last heard the case, final statement of facts submitted by members in favour of forum and no response by the complainants since December 2023, but final orders still awaited. In the meantime, the residents are struggling, spending their time and money.
This is a fault line of the HRRS Act that the Registrar allows complaints of even a few residents to stall elections which impacts the 450 plus resident’s contribution, which was meant for maintenance and development of the block.
The governement needs to amend the Act to create a system whereby the functioning of an RWA does not stop while a resolution is being found and timelines are put in place to resolve complaints by a certain number of members of the welfare body.
