Sispal RWA members quit over bylaws

GURGAON: The RWA of Sispal Vihar, a residential society on Sohna Road, is in a shambles. All members of the governing body have resigned in protest against, what they claim, "autocratic" president.
The 10 former members of the 11-member governing body have filed a written complaint with the registrar of society against RWA president Brigadier (retd) K S Rana for trying to rewrite the bylaws of the society under the garb of amending them as per the new Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012.
In their complaint, the members alleged that despite their disapproval, Rana incorporated some provisions in the new bylaws, which gave him absolute power while appointing a maintenance agency and in calling the general body meeting.
"The general body meeting (GBM) can be called by the governing body or on request from 10% of the total of 162-collegium members. But by a last minute insertion, the president has been assigned this power. The new rules allow both the governing body and president to hold separate GBMs if they disagree over dates," the complaint read.
The controversy dates back to March. "The governing body of our RWA has a strength of 10 members and one president. All ten of them opposed the move of rewriting the bylaws. Still, the president passed the bylaws on March 24 by calling a general body meeting in which the governing body members were not present," said Col (retired) K J Singh, a resident of Sispal Vihar.
"Out of ten, at least four members should have attended the meeting. But there were none," said another member, who resigned last month from the RWA.
The residents also alleged that the amended bylaws were submitted to the office of district registrar without the mandatory resolution of the governing body. And, the president also allegedly approved a maintenance contract, amounting to Rs 90 lakh to a new vendor, whereas the rest of the general body meeting had not approved it. When contacted, Rana said he had not violated any rules while passing the bylaws. "I passed the bylaws in the general body meeting. The society is not my personal property. Anyone who is leveling such allegations is spreading the wrong information." Ishwar Singh Yadav, assistant registrar, firms and society was unavailable for a comment.