“Associate Member” means husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, nephew, niece a person duly admitted to Membership of a housing society on written recommendation of a Member to exercise his rights and duties with his written prior consent and whose name stand as 2nd in share certificate.
Rights of Associate Members in Housing Society
- Get a copy of all model bye-laws.
- Inspect the books of the society without being charge any money to society.
- Occupy the flats after consent of Original Member but will not have right, title and interest in the property.
- Has the right to part of any events, celebrations etc. organized by society and also have equal rights to all the common spaces, parking slots, gym etc.
- Has right to approach authorities for legal matter. Including Registrar, Co-operative Court, Municipal Corporation, Police, etc.
- If 1st named member ceases to be the member due to death, resignation etc. Associate member will also be ceased to be an Associate Member unless he/she hold the interest in the property jointly.
- Can contest the Managing Committee election, caste vote, attend the general body meeting, file the complaint etc.
Resignation by an Associate Member
As per Bye-law No. 28, 29, An Associate member may resign his Membership at any time by writing the letter of resignation to the Secretary of the Society, through the Member, with whom he held the shares of the society jointly. The Secretary of the Society shall place the letter of the resignation of the Associate Member, before the meeting of the Committee, held next after the receipt of the letter of the resignation, duly recommended by the Member for acceptance by the Committee. The decision of the Committee, accepting the resignation of the associate member shall be communicated by the Secretary of the society to the Member and his associate member within 15 days of the decision by the Committee. If the resignation is rejected, the Committee shall record the reasons thereof in the minutes of its meeting and the Secretary shall communicated the same to the Member and his associate member within the time specified above.
Election rights
When it comes to election, under section 2 (19) Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act give some rights to Associate Members.
Under Section 27 (2) If Original member (whose name stand first in Share certificate) is absent at the time of election, Associate member (whose name stand second in Share certificate) have right to vote. But, in absence of both (original member and associate member) the person whose name stands next, who is not minor can have rights to vote in the elections.
The Form of application for Associate Membership by an individual, who desires to hold shares certificates