To

Mr. Suneet Digikar

President,

M/s CAMELLIA APARTMENTS, Pashan,

Pune, 411021

Dear Sir,

It was nice to meet all your members of managing committee on Sunday 18 July 2021. I am putting
on record:

The points of query occurred during our interaction as follows:

1. Al the members present represented me that they want to know the pros and cons of
formation of a COOPERATIVE Society instead of Apartment Association/Condominium. The
members also came up with many questions regarding maintenance done by the society,
how a society is more comfortable in dealing with day to day working of the society? and
also how they will be dealing with nuisances caused by the members? etc. I answered
those queries as per my knowledge.
2. In the case of a society, as the society itself is a Land Owner, the society through it’s
constituted managing committee has greater control over the affairs and can take stronger
actions against errant members, especially with regards Illegal construction & Extension,
long Overdue appears in maintenance, Violation of the AGM resolutions, bye laws etc. On
the mirror image, there is a chance that this great authority can be misused. As this
authority is an elected body and will remain in power till the next elections i.e., till their
tenure comes to an end so committee coming power in hand like the proverb “Absolute
Power Corrupts Absolutely”. This situation may arise at times. To avoid such misuse of
power it is always advised to all the members to attend AGM, special general meetings or
any such occasion where members can enquire about the governance by such committee.
3. For purchase or sale of a flat in a society, all this is required to be done that is to sign the
share certificate and deposit the transfer money. In an apartment since each apartment
member is also a land owner, the 7/12 extract also needs to be mutated by relevant
application at the local land records office. This is cumbersome and time-consuming process
and is often overlooked.
4. There is provision of nomination in the society wherein, in the event of Death of the
member, the Nominee can take the Possession of the flat. In an apartment there is no such
option for nomination and the Legal Heirs/Will Beneficiaries then have to either apply for
the Succession Certificate or Probate of the Will in the Court before taking Possession and
Eventual Ownership of the flat.
5. In the case of the society, the bare act is full of provisions covering many eventualities along
with a plethora of the Case laws/Court Judgements on record. There is little confusion with
regard to the day-to-day administration of a society vis-a-vis than of an apartment, wherein
the bare act is widely considered to be adequate leaving loopholes for misuse.
6. However, there is an outgoing effort by the State Govt. to make the Apartment law more in
tune with the Society law, to avoid these drawbacks.
7. As per present situation of your Apartment Association the names of all the members are
required to be mutated with the Land Records Office as the number of your apartment
 holder is above 150. This will require time and clerical work to be completed by submitting
Index II of all the apartment holders and the deed of declaration, for this purpose one
affidavit will be required to be submitted to the said office signed by either President or
Secretory of your association. Once this procedure is completed, names of all the apartment
holders will appear on the 7/12 Extract. Apartment holders are owners of the land in
proportion to their apartment holding. This 7/12 Extract becomes useful when one wants to
get loan from the bank.
8. As to your other query about the formation of a cooperative society, we do not need names
of all the apartment holders mentioned in the 7/12 Extract. Because society being the
owner of the land and structure standing there on, name of the society alone is mentioned
on the 7/12 extract. And then we will have to follow the procedure of formation of a
Cooperative Society, as is described in the act. For that purpose, deed of declaration is
required to be cancelled with the order of Deputy Registrar of the cooperative societies
and then the society will be formed having its by-laws etc.
9. It is generally advised by legal experts if there are more members in a building, society
should be formed instead of an Apartment Association. IMPORTANT. This will require a
resolution passed by a majority (maximum majority) for such conversion of an apartment
association into a cooperative society.
10. As per your above queries both aspects, society and apartment association have its own
pros and cons.
11. Many aspects were discussed in our meeting which I have tried to mention here as per my
knowledge.
12. I being the Advocate will comply both the aspects i.e., Insertion of Names into 7/12 extract
or procedure to be followed for formation of a society.

Regards

Rohini Bodhani
(Advocate & Notary)