How Haryana’s new guidelines aim to streamline residential society membership, election disputes

The guidelines focus on handling the appointment of administrators, membership disputes, and election disputes after noting that the Act does specify the procedure for hearing appeals regarding these three issues.

The guidelines stipulate that an administrator appointed when the RWA governing body is, for various reasons, an ad hoc one must be a Class-I officer or equivalent, either serving or retired, from the state or central government or a statutory authority.

Further, the initial appointment term is three months, extendable by another three months. If the election process is not completed within six months, the administrator or ad hoc body will be replaced, and re-appointment requires prior approval from the registrar general.

No person can serve as an administrator on an open-ended tenure or for more than two societies simultaneously, and those failing to complete elections in two societies within six months are barred from re-appointment without approval.

The guidelines state that petitions over membership disputes can only be filed by individuals claiming membership or those aggrieved by their removal from the membership register, not a third party. Moreover, only the governing body of a society is authorised to induct new members.

The registrar must decide to pause the election process on the first hearing date, where petitioners may be required to deposit a security amount within two working days to prevent misuse.

“This generic but detailed order shall put to rest so many unnecessary disputes created by individuals set out to hamper the proper functioning of RWAs across Gurgaon, rendering them stale and dysfunctional”, Naveen Kumar, former president of DLF-2 Residents Welfare Association, told the Indian Express.

Kumar explained that RWA members do not always need the expertise to draft and decide complex bylaws and regulatory acts. Therefore, the latest guidelines will help ensure elections are speedily concluded despite complaints raised.

“As of now, politically motivated people file complaints against RWA membership rolls and norms and stall the process. This will help with that. We have not been able to hold elections in our RWA for nearly a year due to the non-cooperation of the administrators appointed, who are hand in glove with those raising objections,” said Kumar.