Soon, an authority for co-op housing societies

Cooperative housing societies, which have been fighting for their rights, or members of such societies, who have grievances against the management of the society, will soon have an official forum, which they can approach to seek justice.

Cooperative housing societies, which have been fighting for their rights, or members of such societies, who have grievances against the management of the society, will soon have an official forum, which they can approach to seek justice.

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Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan mooted the idea of the forum - which will be an authority for housing societies - on Thursday evening, after releasing a manual for cooperative housing societies, at state guesthouse Sahyadri.

The manual, which will be mandatory for registered societies, deals with legal and administrative issues.

It has an extensive guide on the redevelopment of old buildings and conveyance (land transfer to societies) of buildings.

These issues are of particular importance in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, which have 65,000 housing societies in total.

State co-operation minister Harshvardhan Patil promised to prepare a proposal on the housing authority for the Cabinet's approval. "We will decide the format very soon," Patil told the Hindustan Times.

Speaking on the sidelines of the programme, Chavan told Hindustan Times that he had asked the cooperative department to start a call centre for society members.

"We could have a separate cell for specific complaints.

But the call centre and a dedicated email address would solve common complaints and thereby save money and time of aggrieved people," the CM said.

Similar call centres could be opened for other state departments, he added. "It will be an important administrative reform."