Planning To Conduct Online AGM of Your Society?

In the New Normal of COVID-19, social distancing is the key consideration for all public gathering. The sacrosanct Annual General Meeting is approaching and several Management Committee members are already asking the question – How do we do it this year? Considering the majority of professional meetings have already shifted to cyber platforms, online AGM using a housing society app seems to be the natural progression. 

Things To Remember To Conduct An Online AGM

Housing societies and apartment complexes complete their Accounting Finalisations by May-June and AGMs get done by July-September.

Most Bye-Laws mandate AGMs to happen with Owner Members present in person.

If your Community wishes to conduct a virtual AGM via a housing society management system, you could consider the below:

• Conduct a GBM (General Body meeting) for a Single Agenda – Resolution to Conduct AGM online. Include in the Resolution that the AGM Notice will be sent Online, a Video Conferencing Tool will be utilised, Minutes of the Meetings will be Recorded and Published online. Make the Resolution part of your Bye-Laws. You could do this meeting in person – in an open area of the community, maintaining social distancing.

• On the “Meeting Tracker” of ADDA, create the AGM Meeting – Set up Individual Agenda Items. Select “Owners” as the Attendees. Automatic Emails will go to them about the meeting. 

• Post an Online Notice on ADDA about the AGM Date and Mode of attending it.
  
• Send the Online AGM invitation to your Auditor so he/she could also attend from the safety of their home.
  
• On the AGM date, send SMS reminder to all Owners, along with the link to join the Online meeting.

• On the Date of the AGM, take notes on the “Meeting Tracker” of ADDA against each Agenda. 

Once the Meeting is complete, mark the Minutes of Meeting on “Meeting Tracker” as Finalised and all Attendees will automatically receive the Minutes.

If you need help in conducting your society management AGM online, contact us and we will help you to successfully conduct your online AGM in a smooth manner.

Folks in Maharashtra, listen up!

The Maharashtra government recently published a new circular. The Online AGM Circular dated February 25, 2021 Ref. number – Tel. No.: Sankirna-2020 / Q.No.24 / 13-S is directed to Commissioner of Cooperation and Registrar cooperative societies, Pune. It states that as per section 75 of MCS Act 1960, the cooperative societies should conduct their AGM within six months from the the financial year end i.e., by 30th September. However, due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, six months have been extended to 12 months i.e. till 31/03/2021. Accordingly, rectifications have been done in Section 75.

As per the guidelines of COVID-19 there are restrictions for gathering of 50+ members as per the guidelines. Hence it is suggested that cooperative housing societies‘ AGM should be conducted via video conferencing (VC) or via other audio visual means (OAVM). Some of the other guidelines are stated below:

1. Due to the pandemic, the Public Health Department has allowed cooperative housing societies with up to 50 members to conduct their AGM through physical attendance.
2. Societies having more than 50 members have to conduct their AGM through video conferencing (VC) or other Audio visual means (OAVM).
3. A notice has to be given to all society members regarding date and venue of AGM 15 days in advance via SMS, mail, WhatsApp and any other communication platform used by the Community.
4. The notice of the AGM should be placed on the Society’s notice board.
5. It shall be responsibility of the co-operative society to inform about agenda of AGM for discussion to society management members whose email ID or mobile numbers are not available with the society, within 15 days from the date of notice.
6. Considering the area of operation of the housing societies, they should advertise the annual general meeting of the society in at least one local newspaper or district level news paper or state level Marathi or English newspaper.

While giving the advertisement in the newspaper, following points should be considered:

• The medium that the society will use for conducting their annual general body meeting – Video Conferencing (VC) or other Audio visual Means (OVAM).
• Date and Timings of the AGM.
• Information about where members can submit their email ID or mobile number if it has not been registered at society office earlier. (Management Committees who use ADDA can direct such members to Install the ADDA App and feed this information in the app itself.)
• The AGM of the society has to be conducted or completed via VC or OAVM with the consultation of experts or selection of agency.
• Society is responsible for recording the minutes of the AGM as per available provisions.

Click here if you want to access the circular issued by Maharashtra Government on the new AGM guidelines in Marathi.

Conducting Society Elections? We’ve got you covered!

The Secret Online Ballot System in ADDA lets you conduct 2 types of elections – Executive Committee Election and Society Management Committee Election. Read more about how this works in this blog on online ballot.

That’s it! You just completed your Fiduciary Duty, while providing maximum Safety as well as Transparency to your Members using ADDA – the housing society app! Salut!

Reach out to us at sales@adda.io or call at 022-48905764 to know more about the housing society online AGM to conduct it in a go.