Revamp of housing coop societies will take some time

The state government’s proposal to usher in reforms in the functioning of housing cooperative societies is likely to be delayed for sometime.

The proposal to amend the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959, with provisions to fix a deadline for distribution of sites and bring in transparency in their operations, has now been referred to the law department to ensure it does not clash or overlap with the provisions of the Real Estate Act passed by Parliament recently.

The government had proposed the amendments following complaints from the members of delay in allotment of sites by societies. There were also complaints pertaining to irregularities and allotment of sites to non-members.

“We had proposed to include a separate chapter exclusively for housing cooperative societies in the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959, and move the bill in the budget session of the legislature. However, last month, Parliament passed the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2016, which also has provisions on the functioning of housing cooperative societies,” Cooperation Minister H S Mahadevaprasad told Deccan Herald.

The minister said the legal advice given was that the state revisit its proposed amendments to ensure that there is no conflict or clash with the Real Estate Act. The law department is now looking into the matter.

Officials pointed out that the Real Estate Act nullified the provision of a Maharashtra legislation to grant “deemed” conveyance of lands to housing societies where land owners are refusing the transfer of land titles. Further, the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Development) Act, 2012, will be repealed once the Central Act comes into force, the officials said.

The state does not want to find itself in such a position, officials said. The state amendments proposed to make it mandatory for all housing co-operative societies to develop and allot sites within two years to a member who has applied for a site. If sites are not allotted on time, the societies will have to pay interest on the deposits collected from the members. It also proposed to initiate criminal action against authorities of societies who indulge in maladministration and misappropriate of funds.

At the same time, the cooperation department recommended to the revenue department to amend Section 109 of the Land Reforms Act, 1961, to allow housing cooperative societies to purchase land directly from farmers.

“We will decide our next step of action after receiving the report from the law department,” Mahadevaprasad said.