Redevelopment SGM Quorum and Online Voting: What the 30 September 2026 Order Changes

A redevelopment Special General Meeting needs at least 14 days' notice and a quorum of two-thirds of the total members. These are the same requirements brought in by the Chapter XI-B amendment from 30 June 2026. The Registrar's representative must attend, and the whole meeting must be video recorded.

As reported in the press coverage of the order, if quorum is not met the meeting is adjourned and reconvened within a month on seven days' notice. If quorum fails again, the proposal cannot come back to an SGM for three months. Please check this adjournment rule against the text of the order itself before you plan your timeline around it.

The order does not open online voting to everyone. Remote participation through video conferencing is meant for members who are abroad, bedridden due to illness, persons with disabilities, and those unable to attend in person for unavoidable reasons.

The good part is that these members are not second-class. Their attendance counts towards the two-thirds quorum and towards the 51% majority needed for the resolution. So the question of 'voting weight' is simpler than it sounds: an online vote from an eligible member carries the same weight as a vote in the room. What is restricted is who may attend online, not how much their vote is worth.

The catch is the physical floor. Even with eligible online attendees counted, 51% of the total membership must be physically present. In a 100-member society, that means 51 people in the hall. Quorum of 67 can be made up with online members, but those 51 physical seats cannot.

Many societies hoped video conferencing would fix the biggest redevelopment headache: getting enough owners to turn up. It helps with the genuinely absent member, like the owner settled in Dubai, but it does not help with the member who simply does not want to come.

In most older buildings, a large share of flats are rented out or held by owners who live elsewhere. Those owners usually do not fall under the eligible online categories either. So the practical work remains the same: personal outreach, good timing, and a hall that can hold the crowd.

The order also tightens how a developer is chosen. The managing committee must obtain at least three competitive bids. The meeting that selects the developer or contractor must be video recorded, and the resolution needs a 51% majority of the total members, including those attending by video conferencing.

Note that this is 51% of the total membership, not 51% of those present. A society with 100 members needs 51 votes in favour even if only 70 attend.

The new procedure applies equally to self-redevelopment, and that route is getting stronger. Maharashtra has set up the Self-Redevelopment (Group) Authority, SGRA, chaired by Pravin Darekar, to speed up approvals and route finance. As of March 2026, about 1,600 proposals had been received, 46 societies had sanctioned loans, and 21 to 22 buildings were complete. Sanctioned loans stand at around Rs 359 crore, with about Rs 270 crore disbursed.

Banks such as State Bank of India, Bank of India and cooperative banks typically fund 60 to 75% of project cost, and members put in the remaining 25 to 40%. The state has also committed an interest subvention corpus that reduces the effective rate by 0.25 to 0.75%. The minimum project area has come down from 4,000 to 2,000 sq. m., which brings smaller societies in. Self-redevelopment is also reported to get single-window permissions within three months of the proposal.

Results from completed projects are the best argument. In Nandadeep, Vile Parle, members moved from 360 sq. ft. to over 1,400 sq. ft. In Charkop, 400 sq. ft. flats became 650 sq. ft. Extra free area has ranged from 30% to 252% over the original carpet area, and corpus payouts from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 58 lakh, depending on the project.

Self-redevelopment makes your society the developer. Standalone projects run Rs 50 to 150 crore, so you will need your own project management consultant, contractors and legal team, and you carry the execution risk. Money is also needed upfront for feasibility studies and premiums before any loan is released, and that has been flagged as a real hurdle for smaller societies.

Funded projects usually show 70% or more member consent, even though the legal minimum is lower. Lenders prefer societies without internal division. With the new 51% physical presence rule, that consent has to be built through steady communication, not one big meeting.

If your society is heading towards a redevelopment SGM, plan the attendance first and the agenda second.

• Count your total members and work out the numbers: two-thirds for quorum, 51% physically present, 51% of total for the resolution.
• List members who are eligible for online attendance (abroad, bedridden, disabled) and verify them in advance. Do not open the video link to everyone.
• Send the 14-day notice with the venue, the video link and the agenda, and keep proof of delivery for every member.
• Request the Registrar's representative early, and book a video recording vendor.
• Collect three genuine bids before the developer selection meeting, and get an independent feasibility report before you choose between a developer and self-redevelopment.