The court invalidates membership granted for refuge areas falsely sold as residential flats, restoring the previous order rejecting such memberships.
In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court has quashed orders that admitted individuals as members of a cooperative housing society based on the purported sale of non-existent flats. The judgment, delivered by Justice Firdosh P. Pooniwalla, highlights the improper conversion of refuge areas into residential flats and subsequent illegal membership admissions.
The case involved Dheeraj Dreams Building No.1 Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. and others challenging an order that directed them to admit respondents as members based on agreements for non-existent flats. The court found that the flats in question were actually refuge areas, not constructed residential units fit for occupation.
Justice Pooniwalla emphasized that admitting members beyond the available flats violates Section 154B-5 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. The court restored the initial order from October 19, 2020, which had rightly rejected the membership applications of the respondents.
The petitioners had argued that the developer, who purportedly sold these flats, was not a member of the society at the time of its registration, indicating no unsold flats existed. Furthermore, the court noted that any subsequent sale of refuge areas as flats was illegal and void from the beginning.
The court scrutinized the error in the occupancy certificate, which incorrectly depicted refuge areas as flats, and criticized the reliance on a private architect’s certificate claiming these were legitimate residential units. The judgment underscores the necessity of adhering to statutory provisions and ensuring that housing societies do not exceed their flat allotment limits through erroneous or fraudulent claims.
This ruling reaffirms the legal principle that the validity of construction and membership issues must align with statutory regulations and not be based on misleading or non-existent property claims. The court has made it clear that refuge areas cannot be treated as residential flats for membership purposes, thus safeguarding the integrity of cooperative housing societies.
Bottom Line:
Co-operative Housing Society cannot admit members exceeding the number of flats available for allotment, and refuge areas cannot be treated as residential flats for membership purposes.
Statutory provision(s): Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 Section 154B-5, Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963 Section 10(1).
