Bombay High Court Rejects Deonar's Green Garden CHS Plea Over TDR Dispute

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has refused to grant interim relief to Green Garden Apartments Co-op Housing Society Ltd, Deonar, observing that the case arises out of internal disputes. The society had alleged a largescale fraud involving Transferable Development Rights (TDR) against its former chairman and several real estate developers.

About The Case

While rejecting the society’s plea for a temporary injunction, Justice Sandeep Marne said the court was “unable to trace any element of illegality in purchase of TDR by defendants 5 to 18”. According to the plea, the BMC had acquired 7,284.10 sq mt of the society’s land in 1986 for road widening. As compensation, the society became entitled to TDR, which was formally granted in August 2023 through a Development Rights Certificate (DRC).

Green Garden Apartments CHS filed a civil suit seeking to declare the sale agreements for TDR as illegal and void, claiming they were executed without general body approval. The society also sought a refund of Rs16.51 crore allegedly paid unlawfully to two consultancy firms. The society alleged that its then chairman Nitin Chaudhari, secretary Jayshree Visvanathan, and another member Gaurav Chopra, colluded with two consultancy firms to siphon funds and illegally transfer TDR to multiple developers.

Agreements for sale of TDR were executed in AugustSeptember 2023 with at least 14 developers and individuals. A mortgage deed creating a lien on 6,000 sq mt of TDR was also allegedly executed in July 2023 without the society’s consent. The fact-finding committee formed by the society in January 2025 allegedly identified Chopra as the “mastermind”. However, Chopra, in an affidavit, denied the allegations, claiming that the managing committee had committed financial irregularities and was attempting to scapegoat him for exposing them.

The court noted that the decision to sell the TDR had been taken by the society in its special general body meetings on January 8 and June 18, 2023, and that money from the sale had started flowing into the society’s account as early as March 2023. “The first tranche of advance payment of Rs1.50 crore was received by the society in its bank account on March 24, 2023,” the court said. It observed that the suit, filed in February 2025 (nearly two years after the transactions began) was delayed.

“The society has sold the TDR with its eyes wide open and is now attempting to take a volteface and question the agreements after enjoying the sale consideration (Rs46 crore) and without offering to return the same,” the court remarked in a detailed 72- page order. “…If it is proved that the TDR ought to have been sold at a higher price or that the society has suffered any losses, recovery of such losses can be undertaken in an enquiry under Section 88 of the MCS Act,” the judge observed, adding any injunction would harm bona fide developers and affect innocent flat purchasers.

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Published on: Sunday, October 05, 2025, 11:05 AM IST