HC Upholds Disqualification of Three Vaishali Nagar Housing Society Office Bearers
The Bombay High Court has upheld the disqualification of three office-bearers of the Vaishali Nagar Mahalaxmi Cooperative Housing Society in Mumbai for deliberately refusing to provide meeting records to a fellow committee member. Justice Sandeep Marne dismissed a petition filed by Shashikant Ramane and two other office-bearers, confirming they are barred from contesting cooperative housing society elections for five years.
The dispute began when committee member Sandesh Waigankar requested copies of the minutes of 13 managing committee meetings held between April 2022 and March 2023. Waigankar also sought a video recording of the society's annual general meeting.
Although Waigankar enclosed the required copying charges with his applications, the office-bearers failed to supply the documents within the statutory 45-day period. This forced Waigankar to repeatedly approach the Deputy Registrar, who issued several directions to the society before initiating disqualification proceedings.
The three office-bearers challenged the disqualification orders previously passed by the Deputy Registrar, Joint Registrar, and the Cooperation Minister. They claimed that the documents had subsequently been supplied to Waigankar and argued that he had only demanded the records to create a ground for their disqualification.
However, Justice Marne rejected these arguments, noting there was no evidence that the petitioners had attempted to hand over the records directly to Waigankar. The court observed that the case did not involve an insignificant delay, but rather a deliberate refusal to furnish the demanded documents.
Emphasising the importance of transparency in cooperative housing societies, the court stated that members have a statutory right to access society records and committee members cannot withhold information without consequence. Justice Marne noted that the petitioners had shown total disregard for the provisions of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act.
The court clarified that while the petitioners are deprived of their right to be office-bearers of the society, they can still enjoy all other rights regarding their flats in their capacity as regular members.
