Index

Why we need an ‘elected’ RWA

The Grave situation at M3M Golf Estate, Sector 65, Gurgaon

Dear Fellow Owners of Golf Estate,

We are writing to address the issues that have been plaguing our community due to the one-sided initiatives taken by the authorities involved in our condominium's management. It has become evident that Developer, M-Worth (Related company of Developer), IHMS, and Abante (maintenance agency which further subcontracts to a lot of other vendors) and Another new Layer (LUSSO) are working hand in glove to prioritize their profits over the welfare of the residents.

A little digging will reveal the details about the companies, it’s affiliation, relation, connection with Developer.

Key concerns

  • The OC for the project was received in 2017/2018 and still we don't have an elected RWA in place. Developer is not allowing that to happen. Multiple attempts/orders from the District registrar have been issued to Developer but they are not paying any heed to that. The lawyers represented the RWAs and for months did not even know who are the stakeholders and the vakalatnama itself was signed by the the CEO of IHMS and his another family member who are making profits from the residents and no one else representing the RWA. Despite the show cause notices and penalty for even basic stuff like enrolling the residents as members and conducting elections of the RWA have not been done.

  • Developer via its company M-worth has been pushing for the tripartite agreements mentioning M-worth has been appointed by ‘RWA’ which is a total fraud as can be seen from who is signing the tripartite agreements from their side.

  • Structural changes to personal penthouses have been done against the structural safety.

  • Licensed land belonging to GE has been siphoned off to the nearby project (65th Avenue)

  • In the place of an approved primary school as per approved plans, Trump Towers have been constructed.

  • A huge parcel of land within the license area has been marked as the personal recreation area for the Developer’s family with no access to other residents of Golf Estate.

  • Boundary walls have been branched to provide access to the neighbouring 65th Avenue project against the will of residents. Residents have secured the DTCP order against it and still the wall has not been restored. We approached DTP enforcement wing multiple times to take action against the builder via its own DTP planning wing order but even that did not happen indicating the clear nexus between govt. Departments allowing influential builders to have a free run.

  • Several changes to the building/license plans have been done without consent of residents since 2010 and the share of land for all such changes is decreasing from 75 acres to a lower number constantly although the super area at which we were sold apartments with more than 25-30% loading has remained same and we are paying maintenance charges also at the same rate.

  • Another major development is planned to be forcefully merged with GE with the name of Altitude which is separate project altogether and the approvals for these are obtained from Govt. Departments by exploiting the loopholes of the system where residents remain mere spectators.

  • In spite of the highest CAM/CAE in Gurgaon – more than INR 6 psf of super area + GST the maintenance standards have gone down significantly resulting in early aging of the property.

  • Several profit making entities and Related companies are running the maintenance of the condo, each making whatever profit they want out of our CAM and other charges without any accountability on the books of accounts or services or maintenance standards.

  • IFMS amount to the tune of 100 crores and interest amount on that has been lying with the builder without any statement of what is remaining, what has been siphoned off and how the interest from that is reflected on the maintenance costs reduction. We believe a lot of the money from this crucial corpus meant for use after RWA takes over the maintenance has been already siphoned off fraudulently and not sure of the remaining amount.

  • The club houses and sports facilities meant for residents, maintained from our CAM have been let out for commercial events of companies, corporate events, brokers and external agencies resulting in reduced facilities for residents and increased maintenance costs of our assets. The facility and complex has been let out for commercial movie shootings that leave the place in shambles and the money from that is never put to the use of the facility management.

  • Every person providing services in the clubs has to pay a share to the maintenance agency and club manager making the cost of even basic services much more expensive than outside.

  • Random decisions are taken by the maintenance agency without any discussion with residents like closure of clubs, random closure of facilities for long breaks, shifting of facilities from one place to another so that the vacant spots could be sold as apartments. In one such recent incident, the floor meant for a guest house below the club gym was sold as an apartment with false promises and now the gym which was retrofitted with special flooring costing 32 lacs from our CAM is proposed to be moved to the ground floor eradicating the club movement area in bits and pieces. Residents are strongly protesting against it and also organized a march.

  • Electricity bills are charged in advance while the maintenance agency pays them in arrear and that too with very steep DG power charges and with no clarity on why residents have to pay for common area electricity charges of those areas which are run as commercial units like restaurants, clubs and the adjoining places like vacant plots and personal gardens of the builder.

Did you know

IHMS has stake in Abante which in turn is starting a Hospitality arm to run clubs in GE.

Developer has stake in Abante and M Worth is Developer Company as well.

All these companies are running within each other and diverting funds from our CAM.

To sum it up succinctly, there was no transparency in how IHMS was appointed in 2018, and there is zero transparency in their exit process. While the 6 year journey has been summed up in a pictorial collage to give an impression of their involvement in golf estate activities, the collage conceals vital information that we should all have been privy to.

Our simple questions to IHMS are;

  • Who appointed IHMS in 2018?

  • What were the financial terms of their appointment?

  • Who took the decision of IHMS’s exit?

  • Who is deciding the choice of vendor which will service Golf Estate in future? Why are the residents always blind-sighted in major decisions pertaining to the condominium?

  • Who was the CEO of IHMS when the appointment took place in 2018? Why, and under what circumstances has the IHMS CEO changed?

  • The erstwhile CEO of IHMS held the position of an office bearer in the builder appointed RWA of 2018. His appointment as an office bearer of RWA took place without an election OR any formal approval of the home owners, probably as a favor to the builder to continue posing as a delay mechanism.

Net net ; there remain several unanswered ethical, moral and financial related questions in this 6 year journey of IHMS. Their efforts may have been to serve the Golf Estate community, but there remains a cloud of suspicion on their journey. These clouds become even darker because of the linkage of owner of IHMS to Abante ownership and to builder controlled RWA!!
Now a new entity has appeared LUSSO which is a joint venture between IHMS and Abante to make profits from all this mess as if the already engaged agencies in the Condo were not enough.
All this needs to stop and the entire control needs to be given to the resident elected RWAs.

What more can happen at Golf Estate if we don't act now

  • More towers within the land parcel with crumbling infrastructure. Imagine a tower in the Golf area or in place of the fountain, or pool.

  • We will continue to pay through our nose and still infrastructure will get worn out. With no audited and certified records disclosed on IFMS corpus and interest over the years, the cost of maintaining GE facilities will further fall on GE residents eventually after next few years.

Status of ongoing litigation(s)

The Golf Estate Action Group (GEAG) has been actively pursuing resolutions for the past 2.5 years, engaging with local authorities and legal channels.

While some victories have been achieved, such as orders to restore breaches by DTCP and appointing an administrator for RWA elections, there persists a blatant disregard for official directives and every level has been bought over.

  • SR hearing on 9th August to decide on way forward for what we believe is a fictitious complaint against DRs orders. Complaint made by Richa Singhal, Ruchir Pruthi and others, who are themselves not members on record but are direct or indirect beneficiaries from builder.

  • EOW Complaint registered in the Police Commissioner office has been investigated and the RWA related matters have been referred to the office of District Registrar which will begin it’s own investigation and append to the larger investigation.

Main issue beign pursued in the above forums are

  • RWA - membership/elections/control transfer

  • Finances – Forensic audit of finances

  • IFMS - of almost 100 crores

  • Land of 56 acres - legality of inclusion of Trump and Latitude in Golf Estate / access to all parts of 56 acres to all owners / removal of illegal gates. Siphoning off land parcel to adjoining projects (65th Avenue) and Personal Area of Builder (behind Elevate till Trump towers)

  • Super Area - scope of compensation to apartment owners for depletion of this number by inclusion of tower after tower.

  • Maintenance Standards and illegal vendor appointments including our maintenance Agency M Worth.

Call to owners

  • It is imperative for residents to stand together. Remember ‘United we stand, divided we fall’

  • Support us by coming along for Govt Office meetings.

  • Support legal actions and help fund the legal cases as and when required. A one-time contribution of at least ₹ 15,000/- is solicited to pursue more legal options in higher forums for suitable intervention. We are working out the modalities for the same and books of accounts will be maintained under an AOP (in process).

  • Support collective and unanimous decisions as a strong resident voice.

  • Join the peaceful protests to hold accountable the entities exploiting our community.

  • Help us in raising awareness because we need all residents to join hands.

  • With one such unity that we have shown for the meeting conducted on 3rd August we could see the impact with a dozen folks from the M3M/M Worth and Abante on the back foot because they had no answers to our questions and were saving faces. They are not even accepting our MOMs for suitable actions inspite of such a push so we can just imagine how much is at stake and how thick skinned these entities have become.

  • More such resident meetings and protests shall ensure that only few do not own the initiative and this turns into a mass movement which even the mighty builder cannot suppress.

FAQ

Will publicising the issues at M3M Golf Estate deteriorate it's value?

That's a temporary problem against the more permanent problem we are heading towards if we allow the developer's self-appointed agencies to run our condo with ever increasing bills to residents. It's money being siphoned off with all service providers tracing back to just a few people.

We refuse to be looted and made to live in deteriorating conditions where ACs aren't running all day, electricity supply is failing, AMCs aren't being renewed, one Lobby Assistant is manning two Towers, et al. It is an ever increasing list.

With resident money likely siphoned off and towers constructed at every inch of land in and around GE, M3M Golf Estate is a deteriorating property and will soon be a high density project with all the forced access provided to adjoining M3M properties.

Soon, it will not remain a sought after property, the value of which is bound to deteriorate anyways.

On the other hand, if we fight this out and have an elected RWA and access to Books of Accounts, then we will have a say in running our condominium and at the most optimal costs.

A transparent RWA and happy residents will build the reputation which eventually will increase the value of our property.