Maintenance Arrears in Maharashtra Housing Societies: Bye-law 70's Default Trigger, the Section 101 Recovery Route, and 21% Interest Under Bye-law 71

A member has not paid maintenance in eight months, and the committee is arguing about what it can actually do

Nine months of unpaid maintenance sits on a member's account. The secretary has sent reminder after reminder. At the committee meeting, one member wants to disconnect the water line. Another wants to just wait and add a note to next year's audit. A third says "we can always take him to the Registrar." None of the three is what the society's own bye-laws actually provide for.

Bye-law 70 answers the first question — when does a member's non-payment become a "default" the committee can act on — and bye-law 70(b) answers the second: what the committee is required to do about it. Bye-law 71 fixes what the default costs the member while it runs.

When non-payment becomes a "default"

Under bye-law 70(a), a member is deemed to have committed default in payment of the Society's charges only if the amount stated in the demand notice/bill is not paid within the period prescribed under Section 73CA of the Act. Until that prescribed period runs out, there is no "default" for the bye-law's purposes — only an unpaid bill. Once it does, bye-law 70(a) puts a duty on the Secretary, not a discretion: the Secretary "shall" bring the case of default to the Committee's notice for further action. A secretary who simply keeps sending polite reminders past that point is not following the bye-law.

The recovery route — and a discrepancy worth knowing about

Bye-law 70(b) is where this topic's headline sits: "In case of default by Member in payment of maintenance and service charges, the committee shall initiate a recovery proceeding under section 101 of the Act." That is the English text of the Society's own bye-laws, and it is mandatory — "shall," not "may."

Worth flagging plainly, because it affects which papers a committee's advocate should be preparing: the Marathi text of the same bye-law 70(b), which is equally part of the adopted bye-laws, reads that the committee "will take recovery action under Section 91 or Section 101 of the Act" (कलम 91 किंवा 101 खाली वसूलीची कार्यवाही करेल) — naming two routes, not one. The English and Marathi versions of bye-law 70(b) do not say the same thing. Neither text sets out the procedure under either section — that machinery is not reproduced anywhere in these bye-laws. A committee should not treat "file under Section 101" as self-executing from the bye-law alone; it should put the discrepancy and the case file to the society's advocate before deciding which route to file under.

Interest runs from the due date, not from the recovery filing

Bye-law 71 fixes what accrues on the outstanding amount while all this is happening: simple interest at 21% per annum, or at such lower rate as the General Body may fix, running from the date the amount became due under bye-law 70, until the member pays in full. Two points matter here for a committee doing the arithmetic. First, the clock starts at the bye-law 70 due date, not at the date the committee passes its recovery resolution — a committee that delays convening does not reset the interest calculation, but it does let unbilled interest pile up without any resolution behind it. Second, 21% is the bye-law's own default; a society can only charge less than that by a General Body resolution fixing a lower rate — bye-law 71 gives the committee no power to raise it further on its own. One further caution, and it is the practical one: the 2026 amendment rules approach this from the other direction. Rule 106C-12 lets the general body fix the rate of interest on overdue maintenance charges but caps it at 12% simple interest per annum, and a resolution fixing a higher rate is void to that extent. Bye-law 71's 21% and Rule 106C-12's 12% ceiling cannot both be applied to the same arrears. Until the society's bye-laws are brought into line with the amended rules, a committee should take its advocate's view on the rate before it bills interest, and should not assume 21% is safe merely because the bye-law says so.

What your committee should do

1. 1Check whether the unpaid period has run out the time prescribed under Section 73CA of the Act (bye-law 70(a)) before treating the member as being "in default" for bye-law purposes.
2. 2Once in default, have the Secretary place the case before the Committee — this is a duty under bye-law 70(a), not something that can be left to sit.
3. 3Pass a Committee resolution to initiate recovery, recording it as action under bye-law 70(b) — and before finalising which section to file under, have the society's advocate reconcile the English bye-law text (Section 101) against the Marathi text (Section 91 or 101) for this specific case.
4. 4Compute simple interest at 21% per annum under bye-law 71 from the bye-law 70 due date to the date of full payment, unless the General Body has fixed a lower rate by resolution — and if so, cite that resolution in the recovery papers.
5. 5Keep the demand notice, the Secretary's report to the Committee, and the Committee's recovery resolution as the paper trail — bye-law 70 and 70(b) both depend on these steps having actually happened, on their own dates, in that order.