No Plan for Structural Changes in Cooperative Flats, Says MHA

In a severe setback to residents of cooperative housing societies in Chandigarh, the ministry has clarified that it has no plans to allow need-based structural changes in cooperative society flats. The city has 113 cooperative societies, with almost 15,000 flats falling under the jurisdiction of Chandigarh Housing Board.
No Proposals for Structural Changes or Revised Conversion Charges

During the current Lok Sabha session, Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari raised a string of issues related to cooperative housing societies. Tewari asked whether the government would allow structural changes like glazing in verandas or installation of rain sheds. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai outright rejected such a proposal.
Tewari further asked if there were plans to revise the methodology of calculating conversion charges in line with the original policy. Rai again clarified that no such proposal was under consideration.

Clarification on GST Charges

Pointing out that 18% GST is being levied on conversion charges, unearned increase, and ground rent being recovered by the Chandigarh Housing Board, Tewari pointed out that the societies governed by the Estate Office were exempt from those charges. Rai responded, “The board had sent a clarification request to Authority of Advance Ruling within the GST Department about the applicability of GST charges.”.

Certificates of Completion Still Outstanding

Another significant issue raised by Tewari was about the completion certificates pending for several cooperative housing societies. Some of these are pending since 2001. The status update provided by Rai was very detailed:
-Out of the 113 societies, occupation certificates have been issued in 88.

• Thirteen societies never requested for the certificate.
• Two applications were refused.
• Ten applications pending with deficiencies not rectified by the applicant societies.

Residents Demand Action

JJ Singh, president of a cooperative housing society in Sector 48 said along with RS Thapar of Sector 49 and Avtar Singh of Sector 50-D most societies were still awaiting completion certificates despite the UT Adviser in 2016 asking all deputy commissioners to ensure that the completion certificates are issued within a fortnight.

Residents were charged exorbitant water bills that were being computed at 50 kiloliters per month, quite far from the consumption rate at around 20 kiloliters. Because of no completion certificate, leasehold societies do not get eligibility for the freehold conversion process which further worsens their issues.

Estate Office’s Inaction

The cooperative societies also complained that the rate of land conversion rose too steeply, increasing from Rs 1,710 in 1996 to Rs 84,227 in 2017-an increase of nearly 50 times. Estate Office does nothing The societies say that the Estate Office had in principle agreed to take over activities of cooperative housing societies from the Chandigarh Housing Board, but no formal actions have been initiated in the matter. They expect fast solutions to their pending certificate issue, proper rationalization on fees charged for the services, and restructuring.