The Telangana state consumer disputes redressal commission has ruled that if an apartment maintenance association decides to collect maintenance charges basing on the plinth area of a flat rather than collecting the same flat-wise, the same cannot be found fault with at the behest of one or two owners of big flats.
The commission president, Justice MSK Jaiswal, and member Meena Ramanathan pronounced this order after setting aside a district forum order that wanted the association to collect charges flat-wise instead.
The bench pronounced this order after hearing an appeal filed by India Bulls Centrum Owners Welfare Cooperative Society that is maintaining a gated community at lower Tank Bund in Hyderabad that has 154 flats of various sizes ranging from 1,281 square feet to 3,270 sq feet. V Srikanth and K Sravani raised a consumer complaint earlier seeking a uniform charge for all flats and a district forum allowed it.
Upon an appeal preferred by the association, the bench said that bigger flats will accommodate more persons. Their usage of common amenities including water would be more. Smaller flats will have fewer people in them. Asking them to pay on par with big flats is unfair, the bench said.
However, the bench added that the association is generally run by the members of the same apartment. It is the decision of the majority that will prevail. In the current case, majority members agreed for paying charges on square feet basis, and hence one or two flat owners cannot object, the bench said while nullifying the district forum’s order.