High Court Upholds Disqualification of Housing Society’s Managing Committee for Withholding Information

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has upheld the disqualification of the entire managing committee of a cooperative housing society in Pune for five years due to their failure to provide information sought by some members, even after the deputy registrar had passed a specific order to that effect.

A single-judge bench of Justice Amit Borkar also upheld a May 2023 order by the District Deputy Registrar (DDR) of Co-operative Societies, Pune, to appoint an administrator to the Brahma Suncity Co-operative Housing Society, located in Wadgaon Sheri in Pune.

Eleven members of the society’s managing committee had approached the high court after the Divisional Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Pune, rejected their appeal against the DDR’s orders in May 2023 to disqualify them for five years and appoint an administrator to the society.

The DDR had passed the orders in response to a complaint filed by three society members. One of them, Rajiv Gupta, had sought the minutes of the management committee’s meetings and approached the DDR after his requests and reminders yielded no results. Acting on their plea, in April 2023, the DDR had ordered the managing committee to provide the complainants with the information and documents they had sought after paying the necessary fees.

The petitioners contended that their responsibility to provide the information and documents sought started only on May 10, 2023, when the members paid the requisite fees of ₹370. And since they provided the information two days thereafter, their disqualification was unwarranted, the petitioners argued. They also challenged the subsequent order to appoint an administrator.

However, the high court refused to accept the petitioners’ argument after noting that the society members had been demanding the information and minutes of the managing committee’s meetings since January 18, 2023, and had expressed a willingness to pay the requisite fees; however, the committee had not responded to their pleas. The managing committee did not even follow the DDR’s order dated April 12, 2023, and eventually only gave partial information on May 12 after the registrar issued a show-cause notice, the court noted.

“The dates speak for themselves,” Justice Borkar said, disapproving the committee’s approach. “There was a long and unexplained delay from January to May. Besides, the society did not follow the registrar’s direction,” the court said, while upholding the orders passed by the registration officials.

The court added that a cooperative housing society functions through the managing committee, and members of the committee hold a position of trust. “They deal with the money, property, and day-to-day affairs of the society,” the judge said.

The court added that when a committee member refuses to give documents, hides information, or blocks a member’s lawful right to information and documents under Section 154B-8 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, they cannot be trusted to continue in that position. “The law, therefore, treats such a person as unfit to remain on the committee,” the court said, holding that the disqualification of the entire managing committee was justified.

The court also took into consideration the fact that the committee members had already been held responsible for causing loss to the housing society, and a recovery certificate under Section 88 had already been issued against them.