Mumbai: In cases related to deemed conveyance from the promoter-builder to society, the codependent authority cannot go into the title dispute between the original owner and the builder. The authority must adhere to the agreement between the builder and society and issue a certificate of deemed conveyance, the Bombay High Court has held.
A single bench of Justice Sandeep Marne was hearing two separate petitions challenging the order of competent authority rejecting their pleas for deemed conveyance. The first petition was filed by New Manoday Co-operative Housing Society, located in Kanheri village in Borivali (East). It had challenged the orders of the competent authority under MOFA on October 18, 2023, rejecting their plea for deemed conveyance.
The second petition was filed challenging the order of the minister co-operation, directing the divisional joint registrar of co-operative societies ordering de-registration of New Manoday Co-operative Housing Society, which was passed on the application of the original owners.
At the centre of these order was a pending civil dispute between the legal heirs of the original landowners regarding some properties, including the 1,583 square metres land on which the society building was constructed in 1977. The society was registered in November 1978.
Justice Marne allowed petitions, saying the competent authority was not supposed to venture into the jurisdiction issue and the issue of disputes between the owners and the builder. All that the competent authority was required to do was to simply refer the avernments of agreement executed with the flat purchasers by the promoter, the court said.
As regards the minister’s order, the court said he failed to appreciate that ordering deregistration of cooperative housing society at this distant point of time – after around 46 years – would result in a chaotic situation so far as management of affairs of the building were concerned.
