Housing society in Mumbai fined for selective treatment in leakage complaint – Times of India

MUMBAI: Observing that it is the responsibility of a housing society to protect interests of all its members and not be selective on whom to support, a district consumer commission has ordered a housing society in Borivli to pay a compensation of Rs 1.2 lakh to a flat owner after it took “half-hearted measures” to fix a leakage.
The complainant, Lourdes Dias, alleged that the problem arose due to the unauthorised changes made by the owners of four flats in the adjacent wing. The commission said that the society should have taken stringent measures against those flat owners.
Verify source of leakage in 2 mnths: Panel
Ruling against a Borivli housing society and ordering it to pay Rs 1.2 lakh to a flat owner for damages, a consumer commission said that the fact that the complainant’s flat became non-habitable due to leakage and subsequently developed the problem of white ants would have caused her much mental agony and distress and she is liable to be compensated.
The commission also directed the society to take initiatives to appoint an expert commissioner to verify the source of leakage within two months charges for which will be borne by the erring flat members and the complainant.
“The complainant is granted liberty to carry out repairs to the leakage caused in her flat and submit the expenditure bills to the opposite party – society – for reimbursement,” the Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission said recently. The commission said that Ruby Apartment A & B CHS Ltd had admittedly not taken any action for such violations by the respective flat members despite having passed a resolution for taking action.
Dias submitted the complaint in 2014. She said in 2008 without permission of the society or BMC, the flat owners of the adjacent wing made illegal changes in their flats.Dias alleged bias by the society due to a close family ties between one of its members and one of the flat owners who had made the changes.
The society denied the allegations. It submitted that it had tried to resolve the issue by inviting all parties concerned but Dias was ‘not in a mood’ to settle the matter.