Delhi High Court has reserved its verdict on a plea seeking quashing of a provision that enables the general body of societies to fix higher charges of essential services in respect of dwelling units which are on rent.
It is a case where the appellant, has claimed there is disparity in the amounts to be paid by members whose flats are on rent and those which are self-occupied with respect to expenses incurred towards maintenance, repairs, etc for common areas and facilities in a society.
Appellant has also challenged the decision of the cooperative society he is living in as in its annual general body meeting (AGM) it had decided to increase the maintenance charges for flats occupied by tenants by Rs 300 per month till March, 2015 and thereafter Rs 500 per month. Hence, the petitioner said that, “the members who are self occupying the flats have to pay monthly maintenance charges of Rs 2,624 and the members whose flats are occupied by the tenants are required to pay Rs 2,924 per month till March 2015 and thereafter, Rs 3,124 per month”.
Appellant further contented that, “the decision taken by the cooperative society reflected in the minutes of its Annual General Body Meeting, which makes hostile discrimination between the tenants as occupiers of the flats and the members as self occupants of the flats in the society with regard to payment of differential monthly maintenance charges, is arbitrary and discriminatory… and the appellant prayed before the court that, “the decision of the cooperative society is thus liable to be quashed by holding that the two categories of occupants form one uniform class and thus cannot be subjected to discriminatory treatment”.
Considering the contentions of both the side, the bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said that, it will pass orders on the plea challenging the provision under the Delhi Cooperative Societies Rules after it had heard arguments of both sides on the issue.