Hi, I have a Civil litigation case against the Society Chairman for 1) not addressing chronic Leakage problem; 2) weakening the building structure by hiring blacklisted Civil contractor; 3) not following orders of Civil engineer to fix leakages; 4) Selecting members to form society committee without fair elections; 5) Conducting SGM without Quorum; 6) Refusing an Audit of Society fund usage. And several other disputes. The case is ONGOING at the DDR office (Registrar of housing societies). Yesterday I've received a Maintenance bill which contains Rs 10000 as Legal fee charges, to be paid for the Ongoing Civil case to the Chairman. I need to know the following: 1) I understand that I am not responsible for paying the opposite party's Legal fees. Is there any scenario in a Civil case where I have to pay him? 2) If I have to pay the Chairman, do I not have the right to ask the legal Fees he has paid so far? How can I find out what Legal fees he has paid to his Lawyer? Can I file a RTI? Please guide here. 3) If Chairman is wrong in charging me the Legal fees as part of my maintenance bill, what action can I take against him? Please specify the Sections under which I can take action against him. Also, can I complain to the DDR office about this? 4) Documents in the society records (computer) are being changed as per the will of the Chairman. Other residents are aware of it, but do not wish to get involved in the Legal case. Is there no way to check this or rectify this? 5) Additionally, on account of the Hearing date (16/2/22), the chairman had sanctioned some hasty job in the flat above ours. We have not been intimated about the nature of this work done in the flat upstairs. However, I have recieved a letter 2 days ago stating that the Work has been completed and that we should check if our flat's leakage problem still persists. Here I need to point out that the Civil Engineer had pointed out that the Leakage is on account of the Extension done to the Bathroom (without proper Waterproofing) in the flat above ours. Currently, Nothing about the nature of the repair work done has been mentioned to us, in the letter. Could I still get the same Civil Engineer to verify if the suggested leakage complaint has been duly addressed? I need to know about this, since the society has taken a Security deposit of Rs 20000 from us in September 2020, when we painted our house. They are returning that amount too this week, on account of the hearing date. The cheque has been signed by a person (Treasurer) from the committee who hasn't been elected + we haven't received this Deposit refund in the last 5 months! DDR states that the society has no right to take a Security deposit from its residents. Besides, our Leakage issue is still continuing. The Society Committee is illegally selected by the Chairman and not elected. Kindly help me answer all the above queries. Best, A very concerned citizen
Ask a question and receive multiple answers in one hour.
Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.
1)you are not liable to pay legal fees of OP
2) chairman has to enclose bill of lawyer to whom he has paid fees .
3) you can take inspection of society records and obtain certified copies of documents on payment of xerox charges
4) if there are no leakages on your flat thhat means work has been done
5) you can engage services of civl engineer to verify whether work has been done properly or not
Society can't chage you any charges for litigation. They can't illegally recover the same under maintenance from you
1. They cannot demand their litigation fee from you, if at all they are aggrieved over the litigation they may have to approach the court/forum to get their grievances redressed in the manner they may like to.
You do not have to even answer their demand because there is no court in this regard.
2. Don't get confused. See the above anser for clarity to your this question too.
3. You don't have to take any action against him except to instruct him to approach court with his demands and get direction from court for this.
4. If you have filed a case in any court or forum then yo may have to follow it up properly, if you find any discrepancy in the documents that they may produce before the legal forum/court you can challenge the same as per law and the facts.
5. You may have to give reply to the letter which states that the work has been completed, stating that the problem is completed or still persisting.
Don't combine too many things under one umbrella, you may have to look for solution o different problems accordingly and cannot look for one stop solution.
