SCBA Group Housing Society Dispute- Supreme Courts Asks SCBA President To Resolve Within.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday urged Senior Advocate and President, SCBA, Mr. Vikas Singh, to use his office to resolve the dispute that has broken out openly within the Bar Association in connection with the construction and repair of residential flats at NOIDA, on a cooperative model, by its members.On Monday, the Miscellaneous Application filed by the Supreme Towers Apartment Owners Association (STAOA), through its President, to allow her to use the services of the DTU (Delhi Technical University) as Supervisory Agency to oversee the repair works in Supreme Towers, was listed before the bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and M. R. Shah.Claiming that the President of the apartment association has been removed by the majority opinion of the Board of Management (BOM) of the STAOA, an application has also been moved by the Supreme Court Bar Association Multi State Cooperative Group Housing Society to allow it to enter into agreement with IIT, Delhi for supervision of repair works. The Secretary, STAOA has also filed a reply on behalf of the Association to the President's application . The reply backs the stand of the SCBA Housing Society against the appointment of the DTU as the supervising agency, which, as claimed by the Secretary, does not have the confidence of the majority of the BOM. It is urged that the BOM had resolved to remove the President. It is prayed that the Court allow IIT, Delhi to be so appointed "in the interest of the STAOA members".Mr. Singh represents the SCBA Multi State Co- operative Group Housing Society and the STAOA, through its Secretary, in the matter.On Tuesday, when Mr. Singh was appearing before the bench in another case, Justice Chandrachud put to him, "Please use your good offices to sort out this matter. You are all members of the bar, you are one bar association. Yesterday, the lawyers who appeared before us seemed ready to argue! Why must this Court have to decide something like this? Please use your good offices to resolve issues amicably"The SCBA had created a cooperative group housing society with the objective of procuring land and building houses for its members. The project, which is the subject matter of this dispute, is in sector 99, Noida. A contract had been entered into with M/S Purvanchal Constructions for the development of the residential project. In 2015, the possession was handed over, but the construction was found to be faulty and of very poor quality.While the SCBA Multi-state Cooperative Group Housing Society initiated arbitral proceedings against the contractor, some members of the STAOA also filed consumer complaints against the contractor before the NCRC in a representative capacity.To examine the state of construction and to advice on the methodology for repairs/retrofitting, the consultancy service of IIT Roorkee was engaged by the housing society .The proceedings which were initiated before the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Constitution arose from the consumer complaint instituted in the NCDRC. Aggrieved by an interim order of the Commission, the appellants had approached the Supreme Court last year. A suggestion was made before the Court that if mediation were to take place, the entire dispute would possibly be resolved and would be preferable to the members of the co-operative housing society being involved in a tardy litigation. Following the order of the Court, an attempt has been made to resolve the dispute between the contractor and the members of the STAOA."That has now borne fruit", noted the Supreme Court, in its order of July 27, 2020, recording that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been arrived at between the parties, under which the contractor has agreed to carry out repairs to the Supreme Tower Complex in accordance with the recommendations and specifications contained in a Survey Report dated 20 March 2020 of IIT Roorkee and that the parties have agreed that the repairs would be carried out under the supervision of IIT Roorkee or any other expert agency that may be nominated. "The MOU shall constitute a full and final settlement of the disputes between STAOA ( including its members) and the contractor...The principal dispute relates to alleged defects in the construction of the building of STAOA. This is now settled in terms of the MOU. We accept the MOU and render finality to the dispute between the Association and the contractor...In the event that IIT Roorkee is unable to carry out the work of supervision as envisaged in clause (2) of the MOU, it has been agreed that the work shall be entrusted to National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited or IIT Delhi, as may be agreed between the STAOA and the contractor", the bench headed by Justice Chandrachud had said. The bench had even directed the closure of the arbitral proceedings and the disposal of the NCDRC matter.In the Miscellaneous Application filed by the STAOA President in the name of the Association, she states that the aforesaid MOU contains a...

SCBA Group Housing Society Dispute- Supreme Courts Asks SCBA President To Resolve Within.

Mehal Jain

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