NOIDA: A Noida-based couple has alleged their efforts to buy a flat have been scuttled by a housing society’s discriminatory rule – the RWA, they claim, refused the mandatory no-objection certificate if they moved in with their pet dog.
Supriya and her husband Himanshu Verma, both journalists, said they were close to clinching a deal for the house at Akanksha Sehkari Awas Samiti in Sector 62 in October. But a conversation with the society’s secretary gave them a rude shock.
“We came across the flat and it suited all our needs since it had parks and was green and secure,” Supriya told TOI. “We had almost finalised the deal and the broker and owner were about to start the process of the sale. The cost was finalised for Rs 58 lakh. But when we spoke to the secretary of the society and the issue of our pet came up, he categorically refused the NoC, saying they would not allow a dog in the society at any cost. He said while an old resident had a dog in the flat, no new buyer was being allowed to keep one.”
Supriya and Himanshu, who live in Jalvayu Vihar, said they had recorded the conversation with the society’s secretary in which he also allegedly asks them to give an undertaking on a Rs 100 stamp paper that they won’t bring a pet. Since Akanksha apartments is a cooperative society governed by bylaws, an NoC from the society is mandatory in case a flat is being sold. Proceedings of sale can be initiated only after approval from authorities in Lucknow.
“Despite repeated assurances, the secretary did not budge, though the owner had no problems with the pet. The demand was not only illegal but bizarre and inhuman. We haven’t bought our pet but adopted him. We can’t think of abandoning him,” Supriya alleged.
Asked about the couple's allegations, the society’s secretary told this correspondent, “If the dog bites someone, if the dog bites someone in the lift, will you save that person, get injections administered to him?”
He also asked this correspondent what she would do if the dog bit her or one of her family members. “Where people keep dogs, separate lifts are there and staff are there. We have just two sweepers and people are not ready to pay anything more. Where will the money come to pay for sweepers? Will you stay in unhygienic conditions?” he said.
TOI also got in touch with the president of residents’ association for a comment. He said he was in a meeting and asked to call after an hour but did not take any of the calls.
Kaveri Rana, president of the Gautam Budh Nagar chapter of People for Animals (PFA), said setting such a condition was "absolutely illegal" and the couple can approach authorities to seek redress. "The aggrieved person can complain to the district magistrate as well as the (Noida) authority in this case and can even approach courts. Time and again, the Supreme court and high courts have ruled that except for the government, no one has the authority to initiate a ban on someone's personal liberty and the right to have a pet. Further, the All India Animal Welfare Board of India has issued clear instructions that no ban can be issued on a pet using an elevator," she said.