India, June 22 -- In a bid to simplify housing society rules and reduce government interface, the state government is all set to introduce new rules for cooperative housing societies. The new draft rules propose to reduce the interest on members' dues from 21% to 12%, enable societies to raise a loan of up to 10 times of the land cost for redevelopment, and finetune the maintenance charges.

There is also a provision for virtual participation in AGMs-however, an attendance of two-thirds or 20 members, whichever is less, has been made mandatory. A meeting dissolved for want of a quorum can be held between seven and 30 days without the quorum. The decisions at AGMs will have to be passed by 51% of the total members, including those who atte...