Dear Learned Freinds, I have been nominated by General Body of the Registered Owners Association of a Residential complex in Chennai with some more members to Assist me in conducting the Election for next set of office bearers. The Association has 2 years term but all the office bearers including the President resigned and have declared themselves that they will continue to be the care takers till new set of office bearers are elected to hand over the charges Of Association. The President submitted his resignation to the secretary and all others including Secretary submitted to the President. But all resignations are on the same date.But none called for a GBM and resigned . Now some say that President's resignation is null and void as he is the Supreme leader of the body and he has to submit only to GBM and only GBM has power to give the decision for the committee if office bearers to be the care taker. Also they say since all have resigned the decision on nominating the election body is also not valid. So we are in a catch and are in a dilemma to hold election. In the above sceinerio we need your advise on how to go about conducting election And also how the Returning officer ( the GBM has given the nane as Election office and Election Team). Please guide me on what the course legally one has to take in this peculiar situation. Can we conduct election? If so how to go about it? Is it true that under President has to be there If Election has to be conducted. Or give us a solution? Should the registrar of societies have to be informed about this? Regards, Krishnan K V
inform the Registrar of resignation of all office bearers of society
2) an administrator would be appointed by the registrar
3) administrator would call for elections and continue in office till new MC is elected by the members in SGM called for the purpose
The registrar of society is the competent authority to pass the order in this regard where the whole committee have resigned. The secretary should send all the resignations to him to get the direction in absence of any GBM.
the registrar may direct the constitution of EC to conduct election as per the apartment act and inform the outcome to him for record.
I. The returning officer has been appointed by the GBM. Therefore, he can conduct the election as per the by laws, which sgiuld have the election procedure.2. In the bylaws, there should be a procedure to conduct the election viz announcement of election, nomination period, qualification to contest the post, election date and process of counting. 3. Election have to be conduct by the returning office and his decision will be final in all those process. 4. To wellfare of the members, the president can do the day to day affair of the Association till the new body being elected. He should not interfere in to the duties of the returning officer. 5. As per the society registration act, the election should be conducted as per the by laws and the elected persons name to be submitted before the registrar after the announcement of result. It is not necessary to inform the registrar before conducting the election. If you attach the Association's bylaws,i will give a clear advice to conduct the election.
Dear Client,
Society shall be dissolved unless three- fifths of the members shall have expressed a wish for such dissolution by their votes delivered in person, or by proxy, at a general meeting convened for the
purpose. Same could not be happen due to resign on same date by all members, So same have to be informed to the Registrar.
Let the Registrar take call and re election valid.
Dear Sir,
you may go through the following procedure followed by citation.
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An association or a federation should be formed under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
k Under Section 1 of the Act, any seven or more persons who have come together for any legal pursuits, including literary, scientific, charitable or social pursuits, may subscribe their names to a memorandum of association and file the same with the Registrar and form themselves into a society under this Act.
k The memorandum of association filed with the Registrar should contain details such as the name and objectives of the society, names, addresses and occupations of the members of the governing body with which the management of the affairs of the society is entrusted.
A copy of the rules and regulations of the society should be provided.
k With the completion of these processes, the society could be registered with the Registrar after payment of a fee, which will be specified by the State Government from time to time. At present, the fee ranges between Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000.
k As per Section 4 of the Act, once in every year, an annual general meeting of the society should be conducted.
If the rules do not provide for an annual general meeting, a list of the names, addresses and occupations of the members of the governing body should be presented to the Registrar, every year.
k How to dissolve an association/ federation: Any number not less than three-fifths of the members of any society may determine that it shall be dissolved. At the time of dissolution, all necessary steps should be taken for disposal and settlement of the society’s property.
k Advantage of registering an association/federation: By virtue of being a registered body, it can file cases relating to civic issues with the Madras High Court.
Case Law
Madras High Court
R.Muralidaran vs The District Registrar on 20 December, 2007
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 20.12.2007
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR. A.P.SHAH, CHIEF JUSTICE
and
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V.RAMASUBRAMANIAN
Writ Appeal No. 1333 of 2007
and
M.P.Nos.1 and 2 of 2007
1.R.Muralidaran
2.G.Vasudevan
3.M.R.Santhanam
4.K.Ramanujam
5.V.Mahesh
6.M.Gopinath
7.K.A.Ramasamy ... Appellants.
Vs
1. The District Registrar,
South Madras.
2. Sidharth Heights Apartments Owners Association
rep. By its President, S.Ramakrishnan,
No.55, Arcot Road, Saligramam,
Chennai-600 093.
19. Thus, a careful reading of the entire Act shows that the role of the Registrar is clearly defined by the statute in respect of various statutory obligations created under the Act. The functions expected to be performed by the District Registrar have been clearly demarcated into three categories, viz., (a) Ministerial, (b) Administrative and (c) Quasi-judicial. This can be easily appreciated by the language employed, in each of the provisions of the Act, where the Registrar is assigned a role/duty.
20. Wherever the functions of the Registrar are expected to be merely ministerial in nature, the Act and the Rules do not confer any discretion on him and do not expect him to do anything other than merely filing papers and making entries in the Registers. Wherever the functions assigned to the Registrar are expected to be administrative in nature, the Act and the Rules mandate the Registrar to either, "arrive at a satisfaction" or "approve" the action of the registered society. Wherever the Registrar is expected to perform quasi judicial functions, the Act requires him to conduct an inquiry and pass appropriate orders.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1752823/
Hi
1) It is factually incorrect to state that the appointment of Returning officer and other members of election committee by General Body of the Registered owner's association is Invalid on the grounds that the management committee did not exist on the date of appointment.
2) Legally speaking, General Body of Registered Owner's association is superior to management committee in terms of hierarchy.
3) The general body of registered owner's association is also vested with powers to remove the members of Management committee in toto
4) Please note that the Management committee comprising of President, Secretary and other office bearers though might have submitted their resignations (surprisingly to each other , but continue to be care taker's both in fact and in law) , the legal position is that the Management committee though remains in a state of hibernation and that the Management committee is duty bound by law to implement the decisions of General Body Meeting.
5) It appears that the Management committee by virtue of their mass resignation seem to put up a facade that the association itself is in a suspended state, which is legally not tenable.
6) So in order to ensure smooth transition between the present and future management committees and also the conduct of the elections of office bearers you will need to
a) File Form No.VII with the Registrar, as required by Section 15(1) of the Act read with Rule 17(2) of the Rules,of Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Rules, 1978 and
b)Please submit Form VI pertaining to Register of Members which as per Section 14 of the Act, the Society is required to maintain a register containing the names, addresses and occupations of its Members and As per Rule 16 of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Rules, 1978, the register of members is required to be in Form No. VI
and
c) Also submit the minutes of the meeting pertaining to your appointment as Returning officer and also your election team to conduct the election for next set of office bearers(By submitting the Minutes of meeting of General body of Association) and
d) Scheduled election date .
e) Once the above documents are submitted to the Registrar of societies, the District Registrar by virtue of ministerial powers vested in him may either appoint a special officer to supervise the elections or issue written directions to the Returning officer to conduct the elections as per rules of society
Hope this information is useful.
The Registrar of Society has to be intimated about this in writing the registrar shall appoint the officer as administrator and the election officer shall be appointed since there is no general body per say the election cannot be conducted by you. The registrar shall decide the course of action,.
The first general meeting of members of the apartment owners association elects the Managing Committee typically composed of a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer (together known as the Executive Committee) and 8 other members. Elections of all the members of the Managing Committee shall be held once in two years.
The Election Officer or Returning Officer would be elected in the Annual General Meeting one year before the Managing Committee gets dissolved. The election officer shall have the powers and responsibility to conduct the elections.
It is the duty of the election officer to prepare the list of members in the Association and publish the list of members on the notice board in the registered office of the Association.
Not less than 90 days before the expiry of the term of the existing Managing Committee shall the said Committee prepare the election program. The Election Officer will draw the program accordingly so that his report including election results can be placed before the Annual General Meeting. The Election program shall formally be notified by the Election Officer
The outgoing Managing Committee would have the responsibility to get the accounts audited within the next three months after remitting office. If after two years of the term of the Managing Committee, the new committee is not elected, the Board of Trustees would create a Caretaker Committee (CTC). The CTC would not have any financial decision making capacity other than carrying out routine expenditures.
An elected Management Committee member may resign at any time by sending a letter of resignation to the President or in his absence to the Secretary of the Association, but the resignation shall take effect from the date of acceptance by the Managing Committee or one month from tendering resignation whichever is earlier.
1. Since it is an Association, the Registrar of Societies has NO jurisdiction to interfere in the affairs of the Society.
2. In view of the mass resignations, the Chairman has to summon a GBM and pass resolution to appoint Election Officer to hold fresh elections. Till the new Committee takes over, the resigned committee has to conduct and function in a routine manner, till proper Record Hand-Over procedures is conducted. A vacum CANNOT remain in an Association /Society.
3. IF at all the above is not possible, THEN file proper requisition application to the Association Registering authority (typically the Charity Commissioner), for appointing Administrator and take-over of the functions of the Association and conducting elections.
Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal
A perusal of the bye-laws of your society is necessary for rendering proper advice on the issue.
Yes you can conduct election in the said circumstances after giving notice to all your members alongwith the draft agenda. You need to inform he Registrar about the same in advance.
