Cooperative housing societies, whose elections are due, will have to wait longer to elect a new executive body. The state government has put a hold on all elections in the state till August 31 in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19.
Suhas Patwardhan, Chairman of Pune District Cooperative Housing Societies’ Federation, said that the Federation is using this time window to conduct training camps for office bearers on how to hold elections.
Of the 18,000 cooperative housing societies in the district, 17,500 bodies have less than 250 members. As per the amendment in the cooperative act, housing societies with less than 250 members are exempted from holding elections. Thus only 500 societies are due for elections to elect a new executive body.
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Most of the housing societies which are due for elections have not gone for elections for more than 5-6 years. Patwardhan said the Cooperative Act was amended and the pandemic has put a halt to the process. Before the start of the second wave, the work for the election process was undertaken but post-April, everything was put on hold.
The federation, Patwardhan said, has been using this time to train society members on how to conduct elections. “The work of preparation of the voters’ list and appointment of returning officers has to be done by the executive body. The lists need to be published and finalised,” he added. The Federation is, at present, holding training programs for its members.
Sanjeevan Sangle, chairman of the Moshi Chikali Cooperative Housing Federation, said the newly developed area has around 4-5 per cent of societies that are due for elections. In these new areas, most of the members are not well aware of the laws of cooperative housing societies. “Issues like maintaining of the sinking fund, not taking unilateral decisions are necessary to run the society well,” he said.
Sangle’s Federation has been holding regular meetings with societies to help its members know about the laws.
