7th May 2017 - AGM for the year 2016-17

F O A O A

FORT OASIS APARTMENT OWNERS ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the

Annual General Body Meeting of the Residents of Fort Oasis

Held on Sunday, 7th May 2017 at 10 AM, at the Banquet Hall

1. The Attendance sheet signed by 61 members present is annexed hereto and shall form part of these Minutes.   

2. With the quorum being achieved, the meeting was called to order by the President  Mr. Ajit Daga.

3. Notice dated 14th April, 2017 calling this Annual General Meeting was read out by Vice President Mr. Manmal Chopra and confirmed. Minutes of the last Annual General meeting held on 8th May,2016  were also read and were confirmed.

4. President Mr. Ajit Daga welcome the members to the Fourth AGM and briefly spoke about the various activities performed and duties discharged by the FOAOA during the period from the last AGM.

5. On  President’s  invitation Mr Sunil Nahata  read out the Annual Report of the Association. ( Available here )

6. Mr. Kamal Bagrodia Joint Treasurer presented the Audited statement of  accounts. (Available here - Audit Report, Balance Sheet )

7. The president invited quarries and questions on Annual Report and Accounts and few quarries raised by the Members were satisfactorily answered by the Office bearers. Thereafter the following resolution, moved by Mr. Sarfarz Ali and seconded by Mr Prashant Gupta was passed unanimously:

“RESOLVED THAT the Audited Balance sheet & Statement of Profit & Loss Account for the financial year ended 31st March, 2017 along with the Auditor’s Report and the Executive Committee Report as circulated to the members and laid before the meeting, be received, considered and adopted.”

8. The  item no -2 in agenda –Appointment of Auditors was taken up  and the following resolution, moved by Mr Mahendra Sethia and seconded by Mr Sanjiv Sethi was passed unanimously:

“RESOLVED that M/S. ANIL ANCHALIA & CO., Chartered Accountants (Firm Regn. No. 324723E), of Subhas Pally, P.O. Bolpur – 731204, Dist. Birbhum (W.B.) be and are hereby appointed as the Auditors of the Association Company to hold office from the conclusion of this meeting  till conclusion of  next Annual General Meeting of the association at such remuneration as may be agreed upon between the Executive Committee  and the Auditors.”

9. The  item no -3 in agenda- Formation of New Executive Committee was taken up.

President directed Vice President Mr. Anil Baid to inform about the nominations received for Executive Committee 2017-18 .Mr Baid informed that in total 26 Nominations have been received out of which Two Nomination of Mr. Manish Sadhwani and Mr. Ashwin Mehta were found invalid for non membership of FOAOA and Non payment of Membership respectively. Mr. Baid read out the names of  following  24 members for whom valid  nominations have been filed for the post of members of the Executive Committee. He also mentioned that since the number of nominations is equal to the number of vacant positions there was no need for any election.

S#	Name	Flat Number
1	Bal Kishen Daga	11702
2	Kamal Bagrodia	12101
3	A K Sinha	10401
4	Sanjiv Sethia	11504
5	Anil Kumar Baid	10901
6	Mukesh Goyal	11603
7	Ajit Daga	20801
8	Subhankar Ghosh	21704
9	Vivek Agarwal	21104
10	Manish Sharma	22203
11	Mahendra Sethia	21701
12	Ashok Kumar Gupta	20504
13	Prithwis Mukerjee	40706-806
14	Sundip Kumar Gupta	40903-904
15	Nilanjan Sengupta	40201
16	Amit Kumar Agarwal	40305-306
17	Jagadish Chandra Marwaha	50105
18	Manmal Chopra	50502-503
19	Vivek Singhania	50205
20	Sunil Kumar Nahata	60601
21	Tapash Mallick	60703
22	Ranajit Gupta	60602
23	Jaskirath S Gujral	70701-702
24	Rabindra Kumar Agarwal	70305-306

10. The  item no -4 in agenda- Registration of Association under West Bengal Apartment Owners Association was taken up and Mr. Manmal Chopra Vice President informant that the work is in Progress and in the process Notice to all the Owners have been isuued and now Form- A is under preparation which is to be signed by more than 50% owners for submission to appropriate authority.

11. Mr. Kamal Bagrodia, Joint Treasurer presented the summary of monthly Expenditure on complex maintenance and the Collection of Maintenance Charges @Rs. 2/- per square feet and moved the Resolution for discussion. Members raised various questions and placed their viewpoint on related issues The Office bearers  answered various questions raised by the members. Some members suggested amendment in the proposed resolution. After deliberations the following resolution was proposed by Mr Kamal Bagrodia and seconded by Mr. Jagdish Chander  Marwah and was passed unanimously;

“RESOLVED THAT in view of the deficit between the known income and expenditure of Fort Oasis Maintenance Pvt. Ltd., the agency that maintains the Fort Oasis Complex, the Annual General Meeting of Fort Oasis Apartment Owners Association hereby recommends that :-

1. Increase in monthly maintenance charges from Rs. 2/- per Sq. Ft. To Rs. 3/- Per Sq. Ft plus applicable taxes, with effect from 1st June, 2017.
2. The payment due date of Monthly Bills shall be fixed at last day of the month for which the bill is raised, failing which interest @ 1.5% per month or part thereof shall be charged and payable by the owner.
3. The services provided to the Flat Owners shall be stopped after due Notice  to Flat Owners who do not pay Maintenance Bills regularly.”
4. Monthly User Charges shall be levied for the use of various present and future facilities like Swimming Pool, Gym, Club facilities and services”

12. Vice President Mr. Manmal Chopra , with the permission of Chairman moved the following resolution which was seconded by Mr. Balkishan Daga and after a brief discussion was passed unanimously:

“RESOLVED that an “Advisory Committee of Former Presidents” (ACFP) is hereby constituted with immediate effect.

The membership of this committee shall be limited to the Former Presidents of The Association only who are not members of the Executive Committee (E.C).  

The ACFP shall act as the think tank of the Association and play an Advisory role to   the Executive Committee on various important Policy, Organisational, Legal, Structural matters relating to the working of the Association.

Members of the ACFP shall be permanent invitees to all the E.C. meetings of the Association to attend and participate. But will not have voting rights in the E.C.

The ACFP may hold their independent meetings as and when required to provide their considered opinion / recommendations to the E.C. The E.C is at liberty to either accept such opinion / recommendation of the ACFP wholly or partially as may be deemed proper by the E.C

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13 .Mr.. Rabindra Agarwal  proposed a Vote of Thanks and concluded the meeting

AJIT DAGA

PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE MEETING

DATED : 8TH May,2017

Notice for AGM / 7th May : Call for Nominations for EC 2017-18

F O A O A

FORT OASIS APARTMENT OWNERS ASSOCIATION

www.fortoasis.com

Notice # 7 / 2016-17

Annual General Meeting 2017

Notice is hereby given that the 4th Annual General Meeting of the FOAOA will be held on Sunday 7th May 2017 at 10 AM at the Banquet Hall of Fort Oasis complex to transact the following business

Ordinary Business

1. To consider and if thought fit, with or without modification, the following as an Ordinary Resolution - “RESOLVED THAT the Audited Balance Sheet & Profit & statement of Profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement for the financial year ended March 31, 2017 along with the Auditor’s Report and the Executive Committee Report as circulated to the members and laid before the meeting, be received, considered and adopted.”
2. To Appoint Auditors and Fix their Remuneration
3. To ratify the appointment of the 24 members of the new Executive Committee for the year 2017-18 whose names are provided by the members of the current Executive Committee from among the valid nominations received from members of the FOAOA, in response to Notice # 8 / 2016-17 dated 14 March 2017. If the number of nominations exceed 24, elections will be held.
4. To give consent to the registration of the FOAOA under the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act by collecting registration deeds / possession letters along with the consent letter.

Special Business

1. To consider and if thought fit, with or without modification, the following as a Special Resolution -- “RESOLVED THAT in view of the deficit between the known income and expenditure, of Fort Oasis Maintenance Pvt Ltd, the agency that maintains the Fort Oasis Complex, the Annual General Meeting of Fort Oasis Apartment Owners Association hereby recommends that:
1. Increase  in monthly maintenance charges from Rs.2/- per sq ft to Rs 3 / sq ft plus applicable taxes, retrospectively from 1 April 2017
2. The payment due date of Monthly Bills shall be fixed at last day of the month for which the bill is raised, failing which interest @ 1.5% per month or part thereof shall be charged and payble by the owner"

Notes :

1. A member eligible to attend the and vote at the AGM is entitled to appoint a proxy to attend the AGM and vote on her behalf, provided the member fills out and submits the proxy form available at http://bit.ly/FOAOA-Proxy
2. Those who are not members of the FOAOA can join the same by filling in the application form http://bit.ly/FOAOA-membership and paying Rs 2000

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Executive Committee - FOAOA Dated : 14 April 2017

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F O A O A

FORT OASIS APARTMENT OWNERS ASSOCIATION

www.fortoasis.com

Notice # 8 / 2016-17

Nominations for Executive Committee 2017-2018

1. The Fort Oasis Apartment complex is managed and maintained by Fort Oasis Maintenance Private Limited (FOMPL) -- a company owned and operated by the builder Fort Group -- through an outsourced property management firm Colliers.
2. Fort Oasis Apartment Owners Association (FOAOA), a voluntary body of owners, helps oversee the task performed by FOMPL and Colliers and protects the rights of the owners.
3. FOAOA is run by an Executive Committee consisting of 24 members that is elected by the general body of the FOAOA at its AGM.
4. The Executive Committee for 2016-17 hereby invites members of FOAOA to nominate themselves for the Executive Committee for 2017-18. 2016-17. ​Owners , who are members of FOAOA and have paid their Annual Subscription for FY 16-17  are eligible for Nomination. EC members are welcome to nominate themselves but newer and more active members are earnestly requested to join the EC and participate in the management of the complex.
5. Please note that while the EC is a voluntary body, it is the only forum that fights for the rights of the owners and by joining the EC you are only helping to protect your own investment in the complex.
6. Everybody is busy and has his own business and profession to run. But managing the complex is extremely important as otherwise you yourself will not be able to live here in peace. Choosing to stay away from the EC and hoping that some other owner will fight for your rights and help maintain the complex would be rather foolish thing to do.
7. Please download the Nomination form from http://bit.ly/FOAOA-Nomination  or collect the same from Property Management Office and submit the same to the President / Vice President / Secretary / Treasurer or at the Property Management office by 30th April 2017. Incomplete or Nominations recd after 30th April will be considered Invalid.
8. Depending on the number of nominations received, elections to the EC will be held during the AGM on 7th May 2017.

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Executive Committee - FOAOA Dated : 14 Mar 2017

Nomination form available at www.fortoasis.com or http://bit.ly/FOAOA-Nomination or from Property Management Office

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5th March EGM Report

Record of Proceedings Extraordinary General Body Meeting 5th March 2017

50 residents participated in the event and the following matters were discussed.

1. The Secretary explained that FOMPL, a private limited company wholly owned by the builder is the legal entity collecting maintenance charges and is responsible for the maintenance of the complex. FOAOA, an association of residents has co-signing authority on all expenditure made from Federal Bank account of FOMPL and hence has a partial overview of finances.
2. The President presented a rough overview of income and expenditure as visible to the FOAOA. This revealed an alarming shortfall of nearly Rs 6 - 7 lakhs per month. Unless this gap is bridged we are looking at a collapse of maintenance and  housekeeping services. It was proposed that maintenance charges -- that have not changed for the past 6 years -- be enhanced by Re 1 / sqft and a penalty 18% pa be charged for non-payment of maintenance fees from 1 April 2017. A resolution to this effect will be placed before the General Body at the next AGM and unless this is approved we are looking at the termination of core services within the complex.
3. It was announced that FOAOA is planning to install accounting software to monitor flow of cash and track defaulters. Current data is rarely shared by the vendor and hence it is very difficult to track payments. New software is expected to be operational by 1st April 2017
4. The FOAOA can formally take over the management of the complex under the WB Apartment Owners Act if and only if we have more than 50% residents as members of the association. We are still 40 members short. The FOAOA requests every member to convince his or her friends and neighbours to join the FOAOA by sending a copy of the registration deed OR possession letter along with a cheque of Rs 2000 ( 1000 for admission fees and 1000 towards legal charges ) along with the membership form that is available on the website. This is of critical importance
5. Lawlessness by residents is reaching alarming proportions as many residents and owners are refusing to comply with the basic house rules. From feeding of dogs in the complex, carrying out fit-out work outside permissible hours, parking at random locations, flouting club and banquet rules to throwing garbage and rubbish out of balconies, the list is long and terrifying. What is worse is that any attempt to control this errant behaviour, particularly the behaviour of children, by our staff is met not just by deliberate and brazen defiance but by violent and abusive behaviour towards our staff, including physical assault. Unless residents agree to a basic minimum of house rules, this complex will become as unpleasant to live in as the bustee outside.
6. The FOAOA will shortly be announcing the dates of the AGM and elections for the next committee. Kindly take the trouble to file your nomination and join the committee. Unless you take part in the maintenance of the complex, your own investment in this property will be drastically eroded.

Extraordinary General Meeting - 5th March 2017 - 10:00 AM

F O A O A

FORT OASIS APARTMENT OWNERS ASSOCIATION

www.fortoasis.com

Notice # 5 / 2016-17

Extraordinary General Meeting

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There will be an Extraordinary General Body Meeting of the FOAOA on Sunday 5th March 2017 at 10:00 AM at the Banquet Hall. Kindly make it convenient to attend. The agenda is as follows

1. Report on major activities of FOAOA and results achieved
2. Report on financial status of the Maintenance Agency, FOMPL with a special focus on
1. Deficit of expenditure over income
2. Means to augment income to ensure continuity of services
3. Finalisation of House Rules necessary for peaceful coexistence and methods to enforce the same
4. Preparations for statutory AGM to be held just after the closure of accounts at the end of current financial year.
5. Any other matter with the permission of the chair

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Executive Committee - FOAOA Dated : 5th Feb 2017

Notice # 4 / 2016-17

Dear Owner / Residents

1. The association has decided to issue new parking stickers without which no car will be allowed to be parked inside the complex after 15 Feb 2017. Each owner will get only as many stickers as the number of parking spaces that he has purchased from the developer. Please obtain your parking sticker(s) from the Property Manager’s Office after submitting the following documents
1. Self attested photocopy of either (a) Schedule 2 of Deed of Registration or if that is not available (b) Possession letter issued developer, Fort Group -- that clearly shows the flat number and the number and type of parking spaces that belongs to the flat.
2. Name and phone number of owner / tenant occupying the flat
3. Self attested copy of “Blue Book” registration card of car to be parked in the parking slot - the registration number of the car will be written on the sticker and the sticker is not transferable.
4. If owner has not deposited a copy of the deed required for the registration of the FOAOA then he would also be required to do so along with Rs 1000 towards legal charges, and become a member of the FOAOA
2. Fitouts are a source of great disturbance to residents and it has been decided that
1. Permissible hours for any work that causes noise and disturbance will be strictly limited to what is mentioned in the House Rules. For any deviation to these under emergency circumstances, a formal written request must be made to Property Manager and this request is to endorsed in writing by at least two EC members.
2. Before permission is given for any fitout work, the owner must make a deposit of Rs 5000 to the FOMPL. This money will be refunded once the fitout is over after deduction of any expenditure incurred in cleaning up the debris left.
3. If you are not a member of FOAOA, please join the Association
1. Fill up the form available at http://bit.ly/FOAOAmembershipform
2. Submit a copy of your conveyance deed that is essential for registering our Association and avail of waiver of Service tax, along with Rs 1000 for legal charges

Executive Committee - FOAOA

Dated : 22nd Jan 2017

Oasis Jann-ki-Baat

Dear friends, fellow residents and owners of Oasis.

2016 has been a rather tumultuous and eventful year for the country in general and we at Oasis have had our share of ups and downs. As we head into the new year, here is a recap of what did and did not happen in that little corner of the universe that we call our home!

Undoubtedly the high point of the year was the 2nd Durga Puja that we celebrated with a lot of fun, flair and excitement. As a part of the Telegraph Durga Puja ecosystem, we had, for the first time, access to all the activities that are a part of a big media brand and our residents used this to the hilt. Moreover the theme of “Rural Bengal” with which Durga Puja environment was decorated was quite a big hit. The religious aspects of the Puja were adhered to with all due devotion and by the Grace of the Divine Mother, we are on our way to becoming one of the finest “housing complex” puja pandels in Calcutta. An excellent souvenir was published to commemorate the festival and you can read it here.

Close on the heels of the Durga Puja was our Deepawali Dhamaka -- another blockbuster event that treated the residents to an evening of food, fun and frolic and the mandatory “Lucky Draw” that ensured that everyone went home with at least a silver coin in their hand. Next on the horizon is the New Year’s Eve and all the fun and frolic with which it is associated.

But unfortunately, not all was nice and pleasant ….

18th September 2016 was a black day in the short history of Oasis when a mob of local gangsters entered the complex, allegedly in search of a hit-and-run driver who had killed a person on Hazra Road, and vandalised nearly 70 cars in Tower area. While the immediate response of the local administration was rather tardy, some of our residents who know people that matter did manage to arrange for some kind of police action that had a rather limited and temporary effect. We have realised that we have to manage our own security on our own.

While the FOAOA could not  prevent the unfortunate event, it did manage to contain the fallout to a large extent. Extensive discussions were initiated with the police, investigations were carried out, the situation was analysed. In conclusion it was agreed that while the mob of vandals was perhaps too strong to be stopped and repulsed at the gates the response of our security setup could have been far better. Since then and after repeated discussions and deliberations the FOAOA has come up with three steps that will improve the management and enhance the security of the complex, namely

• Colliers -- a fairly big brand in property management has been appointed to manage the property
• Frontline -- a company aligned with and recommended by Colliers has been entrusted with security. We hope that Colliers and Frontline being aligned companies they would be able to manage the security in a seamless manner
• A new set of CCTV cameras are being installed to monitor entry and exit from the external gates and from each building

We hope that with these initiatives Oasis will become a safer place for all of us.

There are two other external issues that continue to trouble our peaceful habitation at Oasis. The first is the challenge of getting direct CESC electrical meters to our Towers. CESC has demanded a significant sum of money from the promoter to install a substation and which the promoter is yet pay. In the meanwhile, one our residents had filed a writ petition in the High Court at Calcutta requesting the court to direct the promoter to make the payment. The High Court has passed an order in our favour and directed the promoter to make payments but unfortunately, the promoter has still not responded to the direction of the High Court. Other legal steps are being planned.

The other issue that continues to bother us is the fact that FOAOA is not a registered society and hence cannot take formal responsibility for the management of the complex. The promoter has refused to hand over the finances, including the sinking fund, until FOAOA is registered. Currently the complex is being managed Fort Oasis Maintenance Private Ltd (FOMPL), a private limited company wholly owned by the promoters to whom all ( or most ) of us pay our maintenance charges. While the FOAOA  can influence the way money is spent from FOMPL our visibility into its very opaque finances is very shallow. Under the West Bengal Apartment Owners Act, under which FOAOA intends to take over the maintenance, it is necessary for 50% of the owners to join the association and submit their deeds of registration. This means that FOAOA needs 175 members ( or their deeds ) whereas, for a variety of reasons, the collection drive has stalled at around 110 only. Until we reach the magic number, we are forced to play an auxiliary, advisory role to the promoter. This is a request to all of you to please join the FOAOA and share  your registered deed with us.

The lack of registration and the consequent lack of access to FOMPL financial information is a big challenge for the effective management of funds. We have a very hazy idea of the quantum of our sinking fund and the payment of interest from the same. While collecting maintenance fees is always a challenge, it has come to our notice that we are getting almost no money from nearly 70 flats of which 35 are unsold flats kept in the name of the promoter. Many other owners are also refusing to pay maintenance because of contractual or quality issues with the promoter about which the FOAOA has neither any visibility nor any influence. Despite earnest requests, certain members are either unable or unwilling to see the logic in the distinction between project / CapEx issues -- that should be resolved with promoter -- and maintenance / OpEx issues that are are within the jurisdiction of FOAOA.

The best way forward at the moment would be to reach the 50% mark in membership, register our society and formally take charge of the sinking fund and the formal maintenance of the complex. Without these steps, the financial position of the complex will be on shaky grounds.

As a matter of fact, we are already on shaky ground. Given the number of flats for which we do not receive maintenance charges, there is a deficit between monthly income and expenditure. This has gone up with the new, more expensive, property management and security services but our maintenance charges have stayed the same for the past 5 years from 2011.  Fortunately, the demonetization frenzy has been of some help because we have made some windfall collections but this will run out soon.

You would be aware that because of financial mismanagement by the promoters, many of our vendors had not been paid for months and many reputable vendors have withdrawn their services. To restore some sanity in this chaotic state of affairs, FOAOA has been overseeing the process of disbursal of payments since July 2016 and since then, most vendors have been paid on time. However as described earlier, collections still continue to haunt us and haunt us very badly and residents should be aware that there is financial turbulence ahead.

The FOAOA is deliberating on ways and means to augment income and all suggestions in this regard are most welcome from all residents and owners. After all this is your house and if you do not think about how to keep it nice an clean, it is you who will suffer.

Which leads us to request you to please engage with the FOAOA and take an active part in managing the complex. You are not guests in a hotel but owners and without your participation the FOAOA cannot run this place to your satisfaction. To get engaged you can do the following :

• Please get yourself nominated to the Executive Committee of the FOAOA for 2017-18. Currently we have to force people to be EC members and there is no election. What we would like to see is a lot of people wishing to join the EC through a healthy election process. Please watch out for the Election Notices that will come out in March 2017
• Visit our website http://www.fortoasis.com
• Join our Facebook page and start dialogues
• Join the two WhatsApp groups by contacting the admins.
• Oasis Residents Group - Vivek Agarwal - 98307 97397
• Oasis Members -- B K Daga 98302 63868
• Help run this newsletter by writing articles and contributing your time and labour in collecting information and assist with the editorial process -- contact Prithwis Mukerjee 98310 02066

While many of you may be blissfully unaware of what the FOAOA has been doing for a whole year, please rest assured that it is trying hard to make your house into a home that  you would love to cherish and come back to every evening. In addition to what has been described earlier, the FOAOA has also performed the following tasks

• Repair of Water Pumps in Blocks and Towers
• Repair,  recommissioning and restart of Water Treatment Plant -- residents may not be aware that the water treatment plant supplied by the promoter was lying non-operational for almost two years! All of us were using raw, untreated ground water for quite some time
• Repair of Air Conditioners in Club, Banquet, Lifts
• Repair of Intercom
• Repair of Block Gate
• Repair of Road leading to Tower Gate
• Replacement of nearly 50 batteries in all the lifts
• Replacement of non-operational CFL lights in Blocks with new LED lights
• Planting of decorative plants, trees around Central Lawn & roadways
• Removal of huge amount of garbage from the Tower Ducts and other areas -- these had been lying around for nearly 5 years

Unfortunately there are many more things to be done and there are too few of us in the FOAOA to do all this. Kindly help us by participating in the myriad tasks that are necessary to run this complex.

Come join us to celebrate a Happy Christmas and a very Merry New Year!

Jai Hind

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Executive Council 2016-17

Fort Oasis Apartment Owners Association