GPA holders urge Ban to protect their right to livelihood

New Delhi

| Thursday, Oct 30 2008 IST

More than 15 lakh people in the Capital who have bought houses on a General Power of Attorney (GPA) basis today urged visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to protect their rights which are being violated by the government due to its discriminatory polices regarding the purchase of property.

GPA is a mode of buying property by circumventing the mandatory official registration norms by which a buyer cannot be an official owner of the property.

According to Mr V N Bali, Convenor of the GPA holders association, people would have to buy property through GPA because there is no provision of open sale and purchase.

Mr Bali said attorney holders living in the co-operative societies have no rights in the affairs of the society even though they constitute 90 per cent of the residents of the society.

Section 94 of the Delhi Co-operative Societies Act which was introduced in the Capital in 2003 stands implemented from 1986 making it mandatory for the co-operative housing societies to wind up its management. According to the act, all the residents should be treated on a par but the Government has not implemented this so far.

Meanwhile, housing societies have handed over essential services to MCD.

The practice being followed now is that the new entrant to a society has to buy property on a GPA basis, pay Rs 50,000 or more to the society as entrance fees. Despite this the entrant cannot enjoy any right of managing the affairs as he cannot participate in the elections of the society. Only 10 per cent original members run the society and pocket the entire booty with the help of the registrar of societies' office employees, Mr Bali alleged.

Strongly condemning the discriminatory procedures adopted against the GPA holders, Mr Bali urged the UN Secretary-General to restore their Rights which are being violated by the Government.

A bonanza for power of attorney holders

The Hindu- Online edition of India's National Newspaper

Staff Reporter New Delhi Tuesday, Jan 02, 2007

They can now become active members of housing society

NEW DELHI: In a New Year bonanza for lakhs of people living in the Capital's flats or apartments in cooperative group housing societies with General Power of Attorney (GPA) ownership, the office of the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi has given its nod to the notification that allows GPA holders to become active members of the society with voting rights.

Under the provision, which has now come into force, the fee for getting membership of a society has also been reduced from Rs.5,000 to Rs.500 per member.

It was at November-end that the Delhi Government had in an attempt to bring about financial accountability and check arbitrary functioning of the societies provided for these provisions in the Delhi Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2006 which was subsequently passed by the Delhi Assembly.

The amendment also stated that any society that had not held audit of its accounts or had failed to convene the meeting of the general body for five years in a row would face dissolution under the law. "Provided that in the case of a cooperative society which has not conducted audit or annual general body meeting for five consecutive years or has no fixed assets and outside liabilities excluding share money of the members, such society shall be deemed to have been dissolved and shall cease to exist as a cooperative body after the expiry of the said period of five years," the amendment stated.

Defunct society

Similarly the amendment made it very clear that if the cooperative society was dissolved or had become defunct, its representatives would not have voting rights in the affairs of the society or its financial banking.

Through the Amendment, Delhi Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan had stated: "We have tried to simplify matters and make acquisition of membership for the GPA holders very easy with nominal charges. In a majority of the societies, the original members have either sold their premises or migrated to some other place but continue to be active members while the GPA members despite being in majority do not have any voting right. This amendment will undo this wrong of the past and things are likely to work smoothly."

With the notification, the Delhi Government's decision to lower the membership fee for the GPA holders to become regular members of the society has also come into effect. Now they will have to pay only Rs. 500 (as against Rs. 5,000 earlier) as fee.

Transfer fee

On this issue, the amendment stated: "The purchaser having registered GPA or registered agreement for sale or registered sale deed as the case may be, in respect of such a plot or flat, may apply for membership by paying transfer fee of Rs. 500 and share money and admission fee as per the provisions of the by-laws of the society and the committee shall grant membership to the applicant within 30 days after the submission of his application. In case of refusal by the committee, the applicant may appeal to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies within 30 days and his decision shall be final."

Revised Taxi Fares (Effective from 06/06/2007)
The fares chargeable by the operators of the taxi in national Capital Territory of delhi shall be as under:-
Taxis(Black & Yellow Top)	Rs.15/- for first Kilometer (upon downing the meter) and thereafter Rs.8.50/- per Kilometer for every additional Kilometers
Night Charges	25% of the Fare(11.00PM to 5.00 AM)
Waiting Charges	Rs.25 per hour or part thereof (subject to minimum of 15 min stay)
Luggage	Rs.10/- per piece except for shopping bags or a small attaché case

Revised Auto Rickshaw Fares (Effective from 06/06/2007)
The fares chargeable by the operators of the auto-rickshaws in national Capital Territory of delhi shall be as under:-
Auto-Rickshaw	Rs.10 for first Kilometer (upon downing the meter) and thereafter Rs.4.50 per Kilometer for every additional Kilometers
Night Charges	25% of the Fare(11.00PM to 5.00 AM)
Waiting Charges	Rs.25 per hour or part thereof (subject to minimum of 15 min stay)
Luggage	Rs.5 per piece except for shopping bags or a small attaché case

Registration of Documents

Q. Which documents need to be registered ?

Certain documents are required to be registered compulsorily for example Sale/Title Deed, Conveyance Deed,

Lease Deed, Gift Deed,Agreement to Sale etc.There are certain other documents which could also be registered optionally. These are Will Adoption deed, General Power of Attorney,Special Power of Attorney,Trust Deed,Partnership deed,Cancellation of SPA,GPA or will etc . Q. Where do I have to go and during which hours? To the office of Sub-Registration Magistrate in whose jurisdiction the property is located, during 9.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. on any working day. Click Here to obtain the contact address of the SDM in whose jurisdiction in your colony lies. Q. Which papers/documents/fees, do I take with me? Document required to be registered ( in duplicate) Two Passport size photographs of both parties. Two witnesses. Proof of identification of each party and witnesses i.e. election Identity Card, Passport, identity Card issued by Govt. of India, Semi govt. and Autonomous bodies or identification by a Gazetted officer. In case the property is/was under a lease from D.D.A., L&DO, M.C.D., Industries Department, Labour Department of Delhi Govt. etc., permission of lessor for registration of the document. No objection Certificate under section 8 of Delhi Land (Restriction and Transfer) Act, 1972 from Tehsildar of the Sub Division of the District to the effect that the property is not under acquisition. Income Tax clearance Certificate in prescribed proforma 34A, under section 230 of Income Tax Act, from concerned Income Tax Officer where the transaction exceeds Rs.5,00,000/- Permission from the Appropriate Authority in the prescribed proforma 37 I, where the transaction exceeds Rs.50,00,000/- under the provisions contained in section 269 of Income Tax Act, 1961. Q. What will be the criteria used while deciding my case? The document is submitted to the Reader for scrutiny. After scrutiny, the Reader indicates the Registration fee required, on the document itself. The due registration fee is to be deposited with the Cashier against a receipt. After depositing the fees, the documents are required to be presented before the Sub-Registrar by the parties in accordance with Section 32 of the Registration Act, 1908. Presentation As per Section 32 of the Registration Act, 1908 every document to be registered under the Act shall be presented at the registration-office :- by some person executing or claiming under the same, or, in the case of a copy of a decree or order, claiming under the decree or order, or by the representative or assign or such a person, or by the agent of such a person, representative or assign, duly authorized by power-of-attorney and authenticated in manner hereinafter mentioned. As per Section 33 of the Act, for the purpose of section 32, the following powers-of-attorney shall alone be recognized:- if the principal at the time of executing the power-of-attorney resides in any part of India in which the Act is in force, a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by the Registrar or Sub-Registrar within whose district or sub-district the principal resides; if the principal at the time aforesaid (resides in any part of India in which this Act is not in force), a power –of-attorney executed before and authenticated by any magistrate; if the principal at the time aforesaid does not reside in India, a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by a Notary Public, or any Court, Judge, Magistrate, (Indian) consul or Vice-Consul, or representative of the Central government. Provided that the following persons shall not be required to attend at any registration-office or Court for the purpose of executing any such power-of-attorney as is mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of this section, namely:- persons who by reason of bodily infirmity are unable without risk or serious inconvenience so to attend; persons who are in jail under civil or criminal process; persons exempt by law from personal appearance in court. Endorsements are made under Section 52, 58 and 60 of the Registration Act on the document after completion of formalities before Sub-Registrar. The delivery of document is made on the production of the receipt issued by the cashier in respect of the document at the time of presentation. Q. When will I get a response? You should be getting a response normally within 15 days.