Maharashtra's Revised Model Bye-Laws: The Official Draft Is Out, Objections Due 27 August 2026

For the past year, Maharashtra CHS committees have been hearing about revised Model Bye-Laws in the pipeline, without much to go on beyond news reports and government intent. That has changed. The Co-operative Commissioner and Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Maharashtra State, Pune, has circulated the actual draft text of the revised Model Bye-Laws for Co-operative Housing Societies, prepared to reflect recent amendments to the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961. This is not a summary or a leak; it is the full bye-law-by-bye-law text, and the government is formally inviting suggestions and objections on it.

We have gone through the draft in detail. Below is what actually changes for a typical Maharashtra housing society, provision by provision, and how your committee can respond before the window closes.

This Draft Rewrites Nearly Every Chapter of the 2014 Bye-Laws

This is not a patch on the existing Model Bye-Laws 2014; it is a ground-up rewrite, organised into chapters covering preliminary matters, objects of the society, funds and share capital, membership and nomination, rights and duties of members, maintenance and repairs, and levy of charges, among others. Throughout the draft, each bye-law is annotated to show whether it is an existing provision carried forward, a provision restated for clarity, or genuinely new, which makes it unusually easy to see exactly what is changing rather than guessing.

Until this draft is formally gazetted, the operative rulebook for your society remains whatever bye-laws it is currently registered under, ordinarily the Model Bye-Laws 2014. Nothing in this article should be treated as already in force.

The Money Changes: Interest, Charges, and New Funds

The draft standardises how a society's charges are calculated and shared, an area where practice today varies enormously from society to society.

The non-occupancy charge point is worth pausing on: many societies today calculate the 10% cap against total maintenance billed to a flat, which is higher than Service Charges alone. If your society rents-out policy assumes the larger base, the draft would meaningfully reduce what you can levy on rented flats.

New Rules for Heirs: Provisional Membership Made Concrete

The draft gives a detailed, workable procedure for what happens when a member dies. The nominee can apply to be admitted as a "Provisional Member" by submitting an indemnity bond protecting the society against future claims. Where there is no nomination, the society must publish notice in at least two local newspapers and on the notice board inviting legal heirs to come forward; where heirs disagree among themselves, the committee can require a Succession Certificate, Probate, Letters of Administration, or a Legal Heirship Certificate before proceeding.

A Provisional Member can attend and speak at General Body meetings and represent the deceased member's estate, but gets no share certificate, no ownership rights, and no vote, until the transfer is finally completed. Separately, if a society sits on any membership or transfer application for more than three months without a decision, the applicant becomes entitled to claim deemed membership under Section 22(2) of the Act, subject to the Registrar's order. That three-month clock is one more reason committees cannot let applications quietly pile up.

Borrowing Limits, and a Separate Rule for Self-Redevelopment

The draft carries forward the statutory cap on how much a society can borrow: total liabilities cannot exceed ten times the sum of paid-up share capital, the accumulated reserve fund, members' contributions towards land and building, and the building fund, after deducting accumulated losses. For societies pursuing self-redevelopment, there is a specific carve-out: they may borrow up to ten times the value of the land, as determined by a government-approved valuer, with prior General Body approval. This matters directly for any society weighing self-redevelopment against a builder-led model, since financing capacity is usually the deciding factor.

A Far More Detailed Rulebook for Repairs and Renovations

One of the more practically useful parts of the draft is how granular it gets about who pays for what. The society's responsibility list runs to structural members, terrace waterproofing, lifts, fire safety systems, CCTV and security systems, common water tanks and pumps, and common parking areas. The member's list covers internal plaster and flooring, internal plumbing and electrical beyond the common supply point, balconies and utility areas (excluding structural members), and equipment the member has installed, including air conditioners and EV charging equipment.

• Ordinary internal repairs, painting, flooring, sanitary fittings at the same location, electrical fittings at existing points, do not need society permission.
• Anything structural, or affecting common areas, waterproofing, the façade, or fire safety systems, needs written permission, and the committee must decide within 30 days of a complete application, with reasons recorded if refused.
• Leakage and seepage disputes get a defined resolution path: inspection, and where the source is unclear, a technical expert's report determines whether the society or the member is responsible.

A New Ground for Expulsion: Redevelopment Holdouts

Expulsion still requires the same safeguards as today: a written show-cause notice, at least 15 days to respond, a resolution passed by at least three-quarters of members present at a General Body Meeting, and final approval from the Registrar after hearing both sides. An expelled member cannot be readmitted for a year without a fresh General Body resolution and Registrar approval.

What is new is an added ground for expulsion: a member who refuses to vacate their flat during redevelopment, after the required approvals under the Development Agreement have been obtained. This is a direct response to the holdout disputes that have delayed redevelopment projects across the state, and it gives societies a formal, if still due-process-bound, mechanism they did not clearly have before.

Faster, Standardised Timelines Baked Into the Bye-Laws

The draft sets out fixed timelines for how the society must process member applications, whether for membership, transfer, or document copies.

1. 1Acknowledge receipt of any application within 3 days.
2. 2Scrutinise it and flag any missing documents within 7 days.
3. 3Place a complete application before the committee or General Body within 30 days.
4. 4Decide most applications within 60 days, and communicate the decision, with reasons if refused, within 7 days of that decision.

Copies of records are also put on a fixed fee schedule (roughly ₹5 to ₹100 per document depending on what is requested), and are free of charge if supplied digitally by email or WhatsApp. Societies that already struggle to meet AGM and audit deadlines should read this as a signal: the new bye-laws are pushing every part of society administration towards fixed, enforceable timelines, not just the ones already covered by the MCS Act. For what happens when timelines like these are missed, see our recent piece on the real cost of non-compliance for office bearers.

What Your Committee Should Do Before 27 August