The Maharashtra government published an ordinance on March 9, allowing co-operative housing societies (CHS) with less than 250 members to conduct elections on their own in their annual general meetings every five years.

Earlier, the government had allowed this concession only to societies with 200 or less members.

The ordinance has also provided huge relief to the management committee of the housing societies with respect to fines.

Earlier, a society’s managing committee was liable to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 if it failed to submit audit accounts and other mandatory documents to the state cooperatives department within the set deadline.

The penalty has now been reduced to between Rs 500 and 5,000.

The ordinance has also brought amendments to the Maharashtra Co-Operative Societies Act, I960. The government adopted provisions to enhance the accountability of managing committee members.

Housing Society Federation secretary (Navi Mumbai), Bhaskar Mhatre, told Mirror, “The government has also introduced an associate members’ concept in this ordinance. Associate members will not have the right to vote, but can participate in other activities.”

In 2013, the Congress-NCP government first made big changes in the election process for cooperative housing societies in the state.

These elections were brought under control of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Election Authority, making the procedure tedious and expensive.