DLF Carlton Estate Board Members defies Statutory Laws to elude accountability towards Residents

By Vineet Malik | August 17, 2021 | London, England

With the announcement made by Carlton Estate Condominium Association (CECA) management on Friday in Gurgaon, India to conduct the Annual General Meeting (AGM) debunked its willful attempt to violate the statutory provisions of law and escape accountability towards 485 residents.

Further to a brief notice posted by Pawan Tharwani – President, CECA on ‘my gate’ residents forum that predominantly described the annual income and expenditure incurred by CECA raised doubt against the unethical style of functioning by the governing body.

The notice said, “copy of Financial Statement / Audited Balance Sheet of Carlton Estate for Financial Year (FY) 2020 – 2021 has been put on the notice boards today”.

On Saturday, a series of questions in support with laws posed to CECA management governed by Mahesh Saini – Estate Manager, Pawan Tharwani – President, Manju Bhargava – Vice President, Arun Verma – Secretary and Ritabrata Pramanik – Treasurer evoked elusive and misleading response.

E Mail addressed to CECA Governing Body on August 14 2021

“Large number of apartment owners are not residing in Carlton Estate as they have let out their flats.

For the reason mentioned above, all the residents can only have access to the balance sheet and more such society documents either through e mail or ‘my gate’ residents forum.

In the matter of Saraswati Welfare Association Vs Pardeep Kumar Rapria And Ors vide Civil Writ Petition No.11467 of 2019 , May 02 , 2019 , the Honb’le Punjab and Haryana High Court stated, “All the documents filed by a Society with the District Registrar shall be deemed to be public documents and can be accessed by any citizen. To that extent, every Society registered under the Act shall be deemed to be a public office for the purposes”.

In the interest of transparency, you are requested to share the duly signed soft copy of the balance sheet on ‘my gate’ residents forum or by e mail.

If you fail to comply with the above, it would construe as an attempt to deliberate and wilful concealment of financial details of Carlton Estate by all of you.

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Response Received from CECA Governing Body on August 16 2021

Concurrently, the same communication was also posted on ‘my gate’ residents forum for the purpose of sharing vital information with other residents and to have further discussion.

However, Tharwani in a bid to scuttle and conceal the matter from other residents rejected the post on ‘my gate’ residents forum.

Tharwani in 2018 accused the previous CECA governing body led by Sachin Jain for blocking the messages posted by the residents on ‘adda’ residents forum to seek financial transparency. However, now he is following the footsteps of alleged corrupt governing body led by Jain.

CECA Governing Body Caught in its own Web of Deception

The apprehension raised by CECA governing body for tenants and non members to view the balance sheet of Carlton Estate put up on the notice boards is unconvincing and misleading as the notice boards are not privy to only members of the residential society however it has open and unobstructed access to tenants, non members and visitors.

Section 38 of the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012 ( HRRS Act )

“Every Society shall supply a copy of the balance-sheet or a statement of accounts together with the auditor’s report to every member of the General Body or the Collegium, as the case may be, along with the notice of the Annual General Meeting, unless these documents have been placed on the website of the Society”.

KVJ Rao, a corruption crusader based in Thane, Maharashtra says, “Documents such as statement of accounts and auditor’s report are sacred that needs to be logically scrutinized and interpreted. The governing body of the Society should publish such documents in public domain. Documents should have unhindered access by any citizen as they are deemed to be public documents as categorically stated in the landmark judgment ruled by the Punjab and Haryana High Court vide Saraswati Welfare Association Vs Pardeep Kumar Rapria and Ors”.

In the matter of Zoroastrian Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. and another Vs District Registrar, the Supreme Court of India on April 05 2005 stated, “Normally, the bye-laws of a society do not have the status of a statue and as held by this court in Co-operative Central Credit Bank Ltd. Vs. Industrial Tribunal, Hyderabad, bye-laws are only the rules which governs the internal management or administration of a society. They may be binding between the persons affected by them but do not have the force of a statue”.

In the matter of Opto Circuit India Ltd. Vs Axis Bank and Ors., the Supreme Court of India on February 03 2021 stated, “It is a well settled salutary principle that if a statue provides for a thing to be done in a particular manner, then it has to be done in that manner and in no other manner”.

At the present moment, around 296 out of 485 apartments are let out by owners in Carlton Estate. This constitutes more than 60 per cent apartments occupied by tenants.

The CECA governing body led by Tharwani is known to have a checkered history and mired in controversies.

Tharwani and his accomplices illegally collected money on account of moving in / out from the residents to the tune of almost half a million in the financial year 2019 – 2020.

DLF Carlton Estate President & Secretary in September last year were caught red handed violating the HRRS Act, 2012.

Tharwani happens to be a convict in a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) case where-in, adverse verdict was passed against him by Steven A Maier – Sole Panelist on October 11 2018.

The governing body of Carlton Estate claimed to have earned total income to the tune of around 26 million from the residents and others in the financial year 2020-2021.