What is a Special General Body Meeting?
With cooperation among members as the foundation, cooperative housing societies demand a high degree of communication and coordination to ensure smooth its functioning. Meetings form one part of this oiling mechanism to keep the system running.
Before we jump into what a Special General Body Meeting is, it is essential we comprehend what a general body is. The body comprising all society members with voting rights is called a General Body. Therefore, any meeting with all the core members as its participants is a General Body Meeting.
A total of 3 types of General Body Meetings are prevalent in cooperative housing societies based on their distinct purposes. These are:
- First General Body Meeting (FGM)
- Annual General Body Meeting (AGM)
- Special General Body Meeting (SGM)
In this article, we will concentrate only on Special General Body Meeting and cover the following details:
What is a Special General Body Meeting?
Being a member-managed entity, a cooperative housing society requires immense coordination across all its members for decision-making and consequent implementation focused on shaping the community they live in.
Hence, the guiding law for cooperative societies outlines one mandatory assembly of the general body every year. This meeting is the Annual General Body Meeting and is provisioned to ensure the minimum required communication. The topics to be handled in this meeting are pre-defined and are usually of the nature to be discussed on a yearly basis.
But the society is a dynamic management entity with multiple events happening simultaneously. It could so happen that the general body’s assembly becomes a necessity for discussing an urgent matter at hand. Postponing the discussion for that year’s AGM would mean a long wait. Also, the topic could be so vast and of great importance that squeezing it in an AGM could prove inefficient and counter-effective.
Hence, to cater to such situations a provision is made for a Special General Body Meeting, commonly referred to as SGM. But what is it exactly?
A Special General Body Meeting is the meeting that can be called anytime and any number of times during the year but for a particular discussion topic that requires the presence and undivided attention of the general body.
When to schedule an SGM?
SGM stems out of necessity and hence there is no timeframe under which it should be scheduled. An SGM must be scheduled as soon as the need arises. Also, SGM is not an obligatory meeting and hence if no special need arises, a society can have 0 special general body meetings in a year.
Why is an SGM called?
A Special General Body Meeting is called and held to discuss only one single matter. That special purpose for calling the meeting can differ from society to society. But the most common reasons for calling a special general body meeting are:
- Adoption or Amendment to Bye-Laws
- Election
- Redevelopment
- Repair Work
- Lift Installation/Repair
- Painting
- Legal
- Communication from Legal/Govt Authorities
- Recovery of Dues
Who can call an SGM?
The managing committee members are representatives of all the other society members. Hence, calling all meetings whether mandatory or as per need falls under the responsibility of the managing committee. But, Special General Body Meeting is the only meeting that can also be requested by members.
Called By Committee
In the most common cases, an SGM is called by the managing committee member for one of the reasons listed in the section above or for an altogether different reason specific to the society.
Requested By Members
In this scenario, the need for a special meeting is identified by the members instead of the committee members. The members then draft a request letter outlining the meeting’s needs and a reasonable explanation for it. A minimum of 20% of all society members must support this request for it to be considered by the managing committee for further procedure.
How to call an SGM?
The committee either identifies the need to schedule a special general body meeting or receives a request for holding an SGM from its members. In both these cases, the committee must proceed to the following phases to call an SGM:
Phase 1: Managing Committee Meeting
When SGM is requested by society members:
Within 7 days of receiving the SGM request from members, it must be presented by the Secretary in the managing committee meeting for consideration. If the request is not supported by a minimum of 1/5th, i.e. 20% of all society members, then the managing committee must write back to these members explaining why the request was denied. But if the minimum criterion is upheld, then the committee must plan the meeting details such as date, time, and place such that it is held within 30 days from the requested date. Whatever the final decision, it is summarized as a resolution passed in the MCM.
When SGM is called by committee:
The committee first holds a managing committee meeting that dedicates one agenda point to discuss whether an SGM is necessary for that specific purpose. If majority of the committee members approve the need to call an SGM, then the meeting details such as when, where and how are decided. This final decision is summarized as a resolution of the MCM.
Phase 2: SGM Official Notice
Using the resolution passed in MCM as a basis, the official notice for SGM is drafted. The notice must outline the purpose and details of how to attend the meeting. The special topic is the one and only agenda point of this special general body meeting. Hence, only that point can be discussed in the scheduled SGM and no other matter can be taken up in that meeting.
This notice must be made available to all society members at least 5 days before the meeting date.
Exception: If the managing committee unanimously decides, then the SGM can be called at an even shorter notice. But the reason for this emergency must be conveyed via the official notice and the closing minutes of such a meeting must also be made available to the members within 2 days of the meeting date.
What are the checks before staring an SGM?
Once all the earlier steps are complete, the SGM takes place as per the scheduled details. But it is essential to meet the quorum. But what does quorum mean?
Quorum is the minimum required attendance that is acceptable for the meeting to convene and make decisions as planned.
For any general body meeting, the quorum is set at 2/3rd of the total society members and hence stands true for SGM as well.
If the meeting was requested by members and the quorum is not attained within 30 mins of the meeting time, then the meeting shall be dissolved.
But if the meeting was called by the committee and the quorum is not attained within 30 mins from the meeting time, then:
- the meeting could continue as planned since a disclaimer to do so was mentioned in the official notice of the meeting or
- if the disclaimer was absent,
- then the meeting could first be postponed to a later hour that day.
- if still, the quorum is unmet, then the meeting is postponed to a later date between the 7th-30th day from the meeting date.
- On this date, the meeting takes place as planned irrespective of the quorum.
How to close an SGM?
Since the topic at the core of a special general body meeting is an important one, the events of that meeting must be minutely documented for future reference. This formal record of the meeting communication is called Minutes and it marks the closing of a meeting. In literal terms, this document contains a detailed description of the meeting events by the minute.
The details listed in the Minutes are:
- Meeting Held details such as the Day-Date-Time, Mode & Venue
- Topics discussed in the meeting
- Detailed description of the discussion for each of the topics
- The final decision on each topic
- Member names as per their contribution and role in the meeting (wherever necessary)
This official document must be available to the members within 2 days from the meeting date if the SGM was called on an urgent basis or else within 7 days. It is then verified by all attendees within a stipulated time after the meeting. Concerns can be raised regarding the content by explaining the reasons for it. If the concerns are valid and accepted by the managing committee, the minutes will be altered for the same. The final version of the minutes then becomes a part of the official record.
Minutes are useful as they allow you to refer back to specific meeting details of what was discussed or what were the opinions of the attendees in case a question arises in the future. Thus, the decisions taken and recorded in the minutes are valid legal proof.
Throughout this article, it is evident that there are many similarities between a Special General Body Meeting and an Annual General Body Meeting but they are not the same. Each of them has been created for its designated purposes and must be used accordingly by the managing committee to ensure seamless communication and decision-making in the multi-member setting that is the cooperative housing society.
