15Association of Apartment Owners and bye-laws relating thereto

(1) There shall be an Association of Apartment Owners for the administration of the affairs in relation to the apartments and the property appertaining thereto and for the management of common areas and facilities:

Provided that where any area has been demarcated for the construction of multi-storeyed buildings, whether such area is called a block or pocket or by any other name, there shall be a single Association of Apartment Owners in such demarcated area.

(2) The Administrator may, by notification in the Official Gazette, frame model bye-laws in accordance with which the property referred to in sub-section (1) shall be administered by the Association of Apartment Owners and every such Association shall, at its first meeting, make its bye-laws in accordance with the model bye-laws so framed, and in making its bye-laws the Association of Apartment Owners shall not make any departure from, variation of, addition to, or omission from, the model bye-laws aforesaid except with the prior approval of the Administrator and no such approval shall be given if, in the opinion of the Administrator, such departure, variation, addition or omission will have the effect of altering the basic structure of the model bye-laws framed by him.

(3) The model bye-laws framed under sub-section (2) shall provide for the following, among other matters, namely:--

(a) the manner in which the Association of Apartment Owners is to be formed;

(b) the election, from among apartment owners, of a Board of Management by the members of the Association of Apartment Owners;

(c) the number of apartment owners constituting the Board, the composition of the Board and that one-third of members of the Board shall retire annually;

(d) the powers and duties of the Board;

(e) the honorarium, if any, of the members of the Board;

(f) the method of removal from office of the members of the Board;

(g) the powers of the Board to engage the service of a Manager;

(h) delegation of powers and duties of the Board to such Manager;

(i) method of calling meetings of the Association of Apartment Owners and the number of members of such Association who shall constitute a quorum for such meetings;

(j) election of a President of the Association of Apartment Owners from among the apartment owners, who, shall preside over the meetings of the Board and of the Association of Apartment Owners;

(k) election of a Secretary to the Association of Apartment Owners from among the apartment owners, who shall be an ex officio member of the Board and shall keep two separate minutes books, one for the Association of Apartment Owners and the other for the Board, pages of each of which shall be consecutively numbered and authenticated by the President of the Association of Apartment Owners, and shall record, in the respective minutes books, the resolutions adopted by the Association of Apartment Owners or the Board, as the case may be;

(l) election of a Treasurer from among the apartment owners, who shall keep the financial records of the Association of Apartment Owners as also of the Board;

(m) maintenance, repair and replacement of the common areas and facilities and payment therefor;

(n) manner of collecting from the apartment owners or any other occupant of apartments, share of the common expenses;

(o) resignation and removal of persons employed for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the common areas and facilities;

(p) restrictions with regard to the use and maintenance of the apartments and the use of the common areas and facilities, as may be necessary to prevent unreasonable interference in the use of each apartment and of the common areas and facilities by the several apartment owners;

(q) any matter which may be required by the Administrator to be provided for in the bye-laws for the proper or better administration of the property;

(r) such other matters as are required to be, or may be, provided for in the bye-laws.

(4) The bye-laws framed under sub-section (2) may also contain provisions, not inconsistent with this Act,--

(a) enabling the Board to retain certain areas of the building for commercial purposes and to grant lease of the areas so retained, and to apply the proceeds of such lease for the reduction of the common expenses for maintaining the building, common areas and facilities, and if any surplus is left after meeting such expenses, to distribute such surplus to the apartment owners as income;

(b) relating to the audit of the accounts of the Association of Apartment Owners and of the Board, and of the administration of the property;

(c) specifying the times at which and the manner in which annual general meetings and special general meetings of the Association of Apartment Owners shall be held and conducted;

(d) specifying the time at which and the manner in which, the annual report relating to the activities of the Association of Apartment Owners shall be submitted;

(e) specifying the manner in which the income derived and expenditure incurred by the Association of Apartment Owners shall be dealt with, or as the case may be, accounted for.