Writ Petition No. 175 of 2005. Case: Matru Ashish Co-op. Hsg. Soc. Ltd. 39, Napean Sea Road, Mumbai 400036 and Shashikant R. Doshi Matru Ashish Co-op. Hsg. Soc. Ltd. 39, Napean Sea Road, Mumbai-400036 Vs The State of Maharashtra, Notice to be served through the Secretary to the Govt. of Maharashtra, Co-operation and Textiles Dept. Mantralaya, Mumbai-400032 and Others. High Court of Bombay (India)
| Case Number | Writ Petition No. 175 of 2005 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Mr. Sachin Kudalkar , instructed by M/s. Madekar & Co., for the Petitioners and For Respondents: None |
| Judges | P.B. Majmudar and R.M. Savant, JJ. |
| Issue | Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 - Section 79A; Constitution of India - Article 19(1) |
| Citation | 2012 (4) AllMR 639, 2011 (6) BomCR 307, 2012 (1) MahLJ 126 |
| Judgement Date | October 05, 2011 |
| Court | High Court of Bombay (India) |
Order:
R.M. Savant, J.
1. The issue in the above petition is as regards the challenge to the order dated 1st August, 2001 issued by the State Government in exercise of the powers under Section 79A of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 (for short "the Act"). By the said order, the State Government had directed the Cooperative Housing Societies in the State to charge no occupancy charges on a particular basis. The said issue had come up for consideration before a Division Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No. 2635 of 2001. The Division Bench by its judgment and order dated 2nd March, 2007 in the matter of Mont Blanc Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. and another vs. State of Maharashtra and others 2007 (3) ALL MR 32, inter alia, held that the power under Section 79A of the Act cannot be exercised so as to be prejudicial to the interest of the Society. The Division Bench has further held that the directions in question issued are binding on the Cooperative Housing Societies. Paragraph 12 of the said report is material and is reproduced herein under.
12. Section 79A of the Act clearly states that if the State Government, on receipt of a report from the Registrar or otherwise, is satisfied that in the public interest or for the purpose of securing proper implementation of cooperative production or for preventing the affairs of the society being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interest of the members, it is necessary to issue directions to any class of societies generally, it may issue directions to them from time to time and all societies concerned shall be bound to comply with such directions. As per sub section 2 of Section 79A the State Government may modify or cancel any directions issued as above and in modifying or cancelling such directions may impose such conditions as it may deem fit. Subsection 3 of Section 79A provides for a penal action for failure in complying with any directions or modified directions issued to a society under subsections 1 and 2 and failed without any good reasons or justifications to comply with the directions. Whereas Section 14 empowers the Registrar to call upon the society in the manner prescribed to make the amendments in its byelaws if the same is found to be desirable in the interest of such society and amendments are required to be made within such time as he may specify. In the case of Karvenagar Sahakari Griha Rachana Sanstha Maryadit (supra), the Registrar had issued...
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