Observation on Operational Metrics and Governance at MHV

[Shraddhesh Doshi]

Hi All ,

Owner Memebrs of MHVWA

It has been a little less than a year for me working as a management committee member and experiencing what it takes to run a society like My Home Vihanga. Functionally, I played a focused role of being part of the Finance Committee and behaviourally, I played the role of being a critical voice within the Management Committee during this period. 

I would like to take this opportunity to share some data points which I gathered during this period and areas where I have been critical around the governance.

Operational Metrics:

If we consider following data points one can appreciate what it takes to manage the scale and complexity of operations involved in managing our society. 

MHV has 20 towers, 84 elevators 1996 flats, spread over 3.22 mn sq. sft

MHV employs 250 member working staff. This includes 60 for security, 140 for housekeeping, 18 for landscaping and 41 for facilities.

Annual budget of MHV for FY-2023-24 is about 22 Crs. 

 

MHV manages resolution of 1100 to 1600 complaints every month.

For the month of July 24, MHV managed 104K visitors. This includes entry and exit for 48K deliveries, 14k maid, 14K vendors and 10k guests. 

Ensuring that the above services are available 24×7 with least interruption is an amazing feat in itself.

Responsibility of an MC member is highly time consuming and yet a thankless job, so I definitely appreciate the contribution of MC members who are active and are doing a great service to the community. This job definitely requires good amount of time, experience and leadership skills. (Nothing less than managing a SME company)

What can be done better:

Having mentioned the good part, there are few occasions where course correction is definitely needed in MC. From time to time, I have played the role of a critical voice within MC seeking course correction where I felt that there were lapses in governance. There are few areas where I feel governance should have been stronger which remains to be addressed.

1. Holding Conflicting Positions within MC: There was a clear guideline laid out by GS himself in the first MC 2023 meeting that same person cannot hold office of Finance and Vendor Committee. 

This was a good practice which was agreed during the MC meeting, however this was then overruled against the agreed discussion. (Note: There is no known negative incident to the best of my knowledge due to this event. However, this is weak form of governance which needs to be corrected.)  

2. Mis-representation on budget: A highly misleading note was published on MyGate with respect to overstated budget deficit . This was done without circulating the said note in any committee. Later, I had to object this outside the MC, there was a public outcry and this was rationalized stating there was some confusion. 

Do take a note of following fact and figures for FY 2023-24:

 - 2022 had GBM projected a deficit of 60 lacs for next FY. 

- In Dec 2023, an attempt was made to quote a deficit of 1.55 crs for FY 23-24 and further projected a deficit of 2.75 crs for FY 24-25.

- The final audited results for FY 23-24 stands at a surplus of 48.5 lacs (excluding depreciation).

3. Incorrect accounting and tax practices: I had flagged advance tax related incorrect accounting practice in last GBM. While we have been able to make some progress in correcting it this year. There is lot more required to be done. I cannot speak more on this sensitive matter as the proceedings with tax dept is underway. This needs to be closely watched and can have significant impact on society corpus.

To be clear, I have raised all the above objections internally within MC on several occasions. I have tried to substantiate all these points with data and general practices wherever feasible. I apologise if this hurts the sentiments of some MC members, however I also feel we can’t sweep things under the carpet. 

We will be much stronger as a welfare society if can debate on such critical items .

(Some of you have suggested I fill in the JS position. Thanks for showing that trust in me, however I cannot take more responsibilities at this point of time.)