The order is under Section 79A of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. It supersedes the 4 July 2019 resolution. The preamble lists the complaint in plain words. New purchasers do not get membership of the society. This clause is the answer.

The clock starts on completion or possession

The duty arises at one of two points. The redevelopment project is completed. Or possession of the flats is received. The order does not pick one and leave the other open. Either event starts the committee’s obligation.

The applications are those of new flat or premises holders. These are the buyers who came in through the redevelopment, not the original members who moved back. The clause is written for them.

Three months to decide, and to hand over the certificate

Within 3 months, the committee must do two things. Decide the application. And give membership and a share certificate.

Deciding is not the same as granting. The order says decide, and then give. A file kept open past the third month is not a decision. A verbal assurance that membership will follow is not a share certificate.

The duty is on the committee of the society. It is not on the developer to chase, and it is not left to the buyer to keep asking. The responsibility sits with the people who run the society after the building is back.

Why the clause exists

The preamble of the same order lists the complaints that reached the government. Among them, new purchasers do not get membership of the society. Without membership, the buyer has a flat and no vote. Maintenance, transfer, and the right to stand for the committee all turn on that membership. A share certificate is the paper that records it.

The order does not set out a separate penalty for missing the 3 months. It places the duty inside the development agreement, as one of the points that agreement must carry. Paragraph 16 of the same order says that if the order is violated, or if members’ interests are prejudiced in collusion, the responsible office-bearers and committee members are liable to action under Section 79A(3) and Section 78A of the Act. A committee that sits on new buyers’ applications is inside that sentence.

What the buyer should have in hand

The clause does not list a form. It does name the outcome. Membership of the society, and a share certificate, within 3 months of completion or possession.

A buyer who has possession and no application on record has not yet started the clock the committee must meet. An application made, and unanswered past 3 months, is the fact this clause is written to prevent.

This is one line in a longer agreement. The same paragraph also caps completion at 2 years, requires the individual Permanent Alternative Accommodation Agreement to be registered before a member vacates, and bars transfer of the development rights. For the new buyer, paragraph 13(5) is the line that turns a flat into a place in the society.

Also Read: Part 1 of Society Redevelopment Series: Administrator Cannot Decide Society Redevelopment

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