Bengaluru apartment association collected Rs 3.3L ‘fine’ in three months

Bengaluru: Provident Sunworth Apartment Owners’ Association, being investigated by the police, had collected Rs 3.3 lakh in three months for serious criminal offences and hushed it up, according to a whistleblower.

Police suspect the collected fines from residents of the apartment located near Kengeri may be higher. 

DH has accessed details of fines collected, mentioned in the whistleblower’s formal complaint to the official email ID of city police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh on December 6.

In July 2025, the association collected Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 from seven residents and one visitor for ‘illegal substances’. In August, Rs 30,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 30,000, and Rs 30,000 were collected from five residents for ‘using drugs or involving in such activities’. In one incident in August, Rs 30,000 fine was marked as “pending”. 

In October, Rs 50,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 30,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000 were collected from three visitors and two residents for “having illegal substances in flat”. 

“Many of the offenders were college students. There was an incident in which one resident had kissed a maid. It was hushed up after Rs 20,000 was collected as fine. The fines were levied based on the mood of the member or financial capacity of the offender,” the whistleblower told DH. “There is no provision in law for a byelaw to charge fine for any offence. As per the byelaw, the association is responsible for maintaining the property and is not a judicial authority to levy fine”.

RWAs become alert

Following the FIR, apartment associations are proactively reminding residents to report criminal activities directly to police, not RWA authorities.

“As a preventive measure, we’ve reminded our residents that RWAs do not have authority to collect fines and condone criminal activity. While we can have our own byelaws and collect fines, this does not apply to criminal activities,” said Krishna Kumar, president of the owners’ association at
Purva Palm Beach Kyalasanahalli.

The apartment byelaws are drafted as per provisions of the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act (KAOA), 1972, and model byelaws given under the KAOA rules, 1974.

It provides for amendments to byelaws based on due process, which is passing byelaws & subsequent amendments in the agreement.

The managing committee, duly elected following the provisions of KAOA, is the custodian of all common areas and facilities, along with collecting maintenance, said Vidya Goggi, member of Bangalore Apartments Federation and past secretary of Whitehouse Association, RT Nagar.

“When there are frequent habitual violations that impact adherence to statutory laws, RWA can add penalty provisions as decided through the byelaws process,” she said.