PreambleAWHO was created in 1978, with the aim of providing houses to Army personnel at low cost. According to its charter, as given on its web site click me, the AWHO functions on ‘No Profit No Loss’ basis. It is a ‘private society’, registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. The AWHO is located in Army accommodation in Kashmir House, alongside the E-in-C’s Branch of Army HQ and it has has many serving personnel posted or attached to it; it is run by an executive committee of which the Adjutant General is the ex –officio chairman.
AWHO is not part of the Government. A full time Chairman and all the members of the board of management are ex-offcio. There is no individual as such as Chairman. The Chairmanship rotates as postings are changed. As far as meeting of the general body is concerned, in this particular society, as registered under the Societies Act, there is no such thing as the general body. It is the board of management that runs the society. The members meet regularly, once a year.
Facts and Facets
The AWHO recovers the cost of land as well as construction in advance. Hence 100% of the cost of the houses is recovered several years before the house is handed over. So, in effect, the AWHO does not spend any money of its own, and owns neither the land nor the houses its builds.
Payment of double stamp duty by the members for the land; once when AWHO buys the land from the original land owner (using their funds) and again when AWHO transfers the houses to them.
AWHO transfers only the dwelling unit and not the proportional share of the land, which the member has already paid for. This is contrary to the Transfer of Properties Act as well as the Apartment Owners Act.
AWHO offers to transfer the title of the land to the RWAs provided they pay the stamp duty. This means that the members pay stamp duty thrice, for land which had been purchased by them in the first instance. As a result, very few RWAs have agreed to do this, and the title of the land continues to be with the AWHO.
If a member wishes to sell the flat, he has to apply to the AWHO for an No Objection Certificate (NOC). The AWHO charges Rs 10,000/- from the Seller as well as the Buyer. To justify the recovery, the buyer, even if he is civilian, is made a member of the AWHO. The new buyer has to give an undertaking that he will not sell or rent out the flat without permission of the AWHO. In effect, it ensures that the AWHO makes Rs 20,000 every time the flat is sold. There is no record of the amount realised on this account by AWHO. NOC's are real money spinners as real estate prices gallop. Civilians, Industrialists and even movie actors throng to buy AWHO flats. If more than 50% of all AWHO constructed houses are owned by Civilians, is the Army looking after civilians welfare?. The civilians are prepared to even pay bribes to the tune of couple of lakhs of rupees to get the NOC and become AWHO members. It is the NOC tutorial from AWHO that is spreading its tentacles to Land Scams like the one that recently surfaced at Siliguri.
AWHO neither follows the guidelines stipulated under the Consumer Protection Act nor divulges information to its own members under the RTI Act. The website does not provide any statistical information from the date of inception of the AWHO Society in 1978 to date like:
Observations
Track record of last 30 years not discernible in the public domain. Presently what can be perceived from AWHO web page is that on an average about 10% officers who retire annually become AWHO members and are allotted a house. JCO's, NCO's and ORs have a dismal allotment rate of less than 1% who retire annually. This is truly a pro officer organisation and not a welfare organisation for all ranks. This is in direct contradiction to Chetwode Motto by which every officer swears!
AWHO runs on its own steam in a typical bureaucratic style and is accountable to nobody. The Army has already washed its hands of the AWHO. The Registrar of Societies has no control or information about AWHO activities. The common soldiers officers, JCOs and OR, feel that it is an Army set up, which will look after their interests! Less than 1% of soldiers get a dwelling unit through AWHO so how can this be called Welfare for troops for the remaining 99% of soldiers. Who then are real beneficiaries for whom this welfare organisation is set up?
AWHO
Related Story on NOC
Defence minister A K Antony, on his part, warned the Army that such cases “not only damage its image” but also “adversely affect the ability of senior officers to measure up to the expectations of the men they lead”.
Sukna land scam: Lt-Gen faces court martial
click here to read more about Army Welfare Organisations
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