News: RWAs Cannot Cut Essential Services Over Dues: Haryana-01-07-2026
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) cannot suspend essential services such as garbage collection or deactivate digital access systems to force payment of maintenance arrears, the Haryana Registrar General of Societies has ruled. The June 16 order also holds that maintenance charges must be proportionate to a unit’s size and cannot be uniform across flats and villas of different sizes.
The order ends a dispute of nearly nine months between residents and the N Block RWA of Mayfair Gardens in Gurugram.
In 2025, the RWA revised the quarterly maintenance charge to a flat Rs 5,000 for all 2BHK apartments and villas regardless of size. It also approved punitive steps against defaulters: suspension of garbage collection, deactivation of park and access cards, withdrawal of plumbing and electrical services, and a 1% monthly penalty on unpaid dues.
A group of residents challenged this as arbitrary and unlawful, arguing that homes of different sizes could not be charged the same and that the RWA had no authority to suspend essential services. The Registrar General accepted their contention, holding that charges must be linked to property size and that coercive action affecting essential services lies outside an RWA’s powers.
The order separates an RWA’s right to recover charges from its authority to enforce them. Legal experts say RWAs are fully entitled to legitimate dues, but disputes must go through remedies available in law.
Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner, KS Legal & Associates, called the view legally sound. An RWA is not an adjudicatory authority, she said, and cannot impose penalties that deprive a resident of basic civic amenities. Maintenance disputes are contractual and statutory matters to be resolved under apartment ownership laws, cooperative laws, civil courts or other competent forums, not through self-help measures that make a property "uninhabitable".
She added that residents remain obliged to pay legitimate dues, but any arbitrary or disproportionate action, or one contrary to statutory rights, is open to legal challenge.
