Lucknow: Observing that existing laws do not provide an effective mechanism for resolving disputes between apartment owners and Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs), a Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to examine the feasibility of creating a dedicated grievance redressal forum.The bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai issued the direction while dismissing a writ petition filed by four residents of Sarvodaya Sulabh Apartments in Gomti Nagar Extension.The court held that management of a residential society is a collective responsibility of the RWA and that mere disagreement by a few apartment owners with decisions taken through a democratic process cannot be a ground for invoking the high court’s writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.The petitioners had alleged that the RWA arbitrarily closed six of the society’s 10 entry gates, imposed parking charges, clamped vehicles of residents who failed to pay those charges, recovered Rs 500 per day from defaulters and towed vehicles using a private crane. They also challenged the legality of the RWA’s constitution.Opposing the plea, the RWA informed the court that it had been duly registered and constituted through a valid electoral process.In its order, the bench observed that once a duly elected RWA comes into existence, it is empowered under its bye-laws to take decisions concerning parking management, security arrangements and maintenance of common facilities. The court further held that restricting access through certain gates for security reasons falls within the association’s administrative domain and does not infringe upon residents’ fundamental rights.The court noted that such disputes are essentially internal matters of the association and should ordinarily be resolved through the democratic framework of the RWA itself. At the same time, it emphasised that associations must give adequate notice to members and provide a fair opportunity to those holding dissenting views before implementing significant decisions.Noting a gap in the statutory framework under the Uttar Pradesh Apartment Act, 2010, the bench observed that apartment owners currently lack an effective forum for adjudication of disputes with RWAs. It, therefore, asked the state government to consider establishing an appropriate grievance redressal mechanism for resolving such conflicts.The court’s observations are expected to have wider implications for thousands of apartment owners and RWAs across Uttar Pradesh, where disputes over parking, maintenance charges, security measures and management decisions frequently arise but often lack a specialised forum for resolution.
