MUMBAI: Bombay high court directed a society member, who had been obstructing a redevelopment project for six years, to vacate his flat in a dilapidated building in Goregaon by April 30. The court said he must “bend the knee to the law,” to the high court judgement and to “discipline of the Cooperative Societies Act and supremacy of the general body.”
Justice Gautam Patel said the law is that “a member of a cooperative housing society loses his individual identity upon becoming a member, and his identity is subsumed within that society.” “A person cannot both claim the benefits of membership and yet deny the authority of the general body of the society to bind that member by a decision taken by majority in a properly convened meeting… It is simply not possible for a member of the society to disobey, disavow or flout openly taken decisions of the general body of the very society of which he claims to be a member,” the judge added.
Justice Patel’s judgement was in an arbitration petition filed this year— Chirag Infra Projects Pvt Ltd versus Vijay Jwala Cooperative Housing Society and its member. In 2014, the society resolved to go in for redevelopment. In 2015, a development agreement was signed, said lawyers Amogh Singh for the developer and Amol Joshi for the society. Advocate Divya Parmar for the solitary dissenter raised a legal point. The member, who continues to reside with his wife in his flat, said the development agreement and an arbitration clause cannot bind him as he had not signed the agreement.
The member contended the redevelopment was “illegal” as the building, meant for the lower income group, did not have the requisite permission from the social welfare department. The HC said nowhere has he shown how the SWD has the power over development projects. The HC also said he had not challenged the development agreement and it was too late to do that now. The HC said it has the jurisdiction to pass interim orders even against dissenting members who are not party to the arbitration agreement.
“The facts are beyond shocking,’’ said Justice Patel. “It does not seem to matter to this member that his actions come at a very real cost to other members, all 19 of whom have vacated their premises in November 2018,” the HC judgment of March 12 said. It added between December 16, 2015 and today, the developer had spent about Rs 6.2 crore, and yet the building had not been demolished only for want of eviction of a sole member. In 2018, the BMC categorised the building as C1 (unsafe and posing a risk to all occupants).
The HC declined an eight-week stay sought by the man. Failure to meet the deadline would mean forcible eviction by a court receiver with police help, said the ruling.