‘Builder Cannot Cite His Own Illegalities’: Bombay HC Sets Aside Mira Road Housing Society De-Registration

Mumbai, August 7, 2026: The Bombay High Court has set aside the de-registration of a co-operative housing society in Mira Road, holding that a builder cannot seek to dissolve a society by citing illegalities arising from his own actions.

Justice Sandeep Marne quashed a 2025 order of the Maharashtra Co-operation Minister that upheld the de-registration of the Hatkesh Udyog Nagar Industrial Premises Co-operative Housing Society.

The court was hearing a petition filed by members of the society, which comprises 72 industrial units near the Mira Road end of Ghodbunder Road.

“If a developer constructs a building without securing permissions, sells units therein, and after a society is formed by the unit purchasers, he applies for de-registration on the ground that the building constructed by him is illegal... the answer to my mind appears to be in the negative,” Justice Marne observed.

Society Members Challenge De-Registration

The members had challenged the minister’s order affirming an earlier decision of the Divisional Joint Registrar to cancel the society’s registration. They argued that dismantling the society, registered in 2008, would disrupt the management of the industrial estate and lead to “total chaos”.

The dispute dates back to 2015 when Paresh Vora, proprietor of Hatkesh Builders, sought the society’s de-registration. He cited discrepancies in the registration proposal, including a mismatch in the number of industrial units and overwriting in certain documents, besides alleging illegal construction.

The society members, however, contended that the alleged illegalities were the builder’s own doing.

Court Finds Builder Responsible

The High Court observed that while there appeared to be discrepancies in some registration documents, the background in which the proposal was submitted also had to be taken into account.

The court found that the builder had continued construction and sold industrial units without obtaining the necessary development permissions, relying only on a no-objection certificate issued by the Ghodbunder Gram Panchayat. It also noted that the land had not been converted to non-agricultural use as required by law.

Justice Marne said the builder had carried out unauthorised construction and was now attempting to secure the society’s de-registration by pointing to his own illegalities.

He further noted that although the first units were sold in 1979, the builder had done “precious little” over nearly three decades to form the society and now wanted it dissolved for an “obvious oblique motive”.

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Holding that the builder could not be allowed to benefit from his own wrong, the court set aside the de-registration order, observing that in the “peculiar” facts of the case, the discrepancies in the registration documents could be ignored.

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