Expulsion notice issued by a housing society for filing RTI applications
31 Mar, 2014A 96-year-old housing society in tony Bandra (W) Salsette CHS, which has 210 plot owners as its members, has issued an expulsion notice to one of its members, Leslie Almeida. There is nothing unusual in a housing issuing a show cause notice to a member but the reason cited by the society in this case is quite curious. The show cause notice asks Leslie Almeida why he should not be expelled for his alleged misdemeanours, including filing 54 applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Almeida has filed multiple RTI applications seeking information about various buildings that are members of the society.
A special general body meeting of the society has been called to decide on the matter. Almeida has alleged that he has used the RTI Act to expose various illegalities in the Salsette housing society. Cornel Gonsalves, secretary, Salsette CHS, has said that the society has been unnecessarily dragged into the decade-long property dispute between Almeida and his brother Dr Selwyn forcing the society to make as many as 15 files regarding the disputed plot.