In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court has upheld the choice of Shubham Builders as the developer under the redevelopment project of Kanchan Villa Co-operative Housing Society in Malad (West), Mumbai. A division bench headed by Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan has pronounced the judgment on the challenge to a notice of motion wherein the court would determine if the selection process followed by the developer had, at all, kept with the letter and spirit of the law, after which it would have ramifications on redevelopments by cooperative housing societies.
Background
The case lies in the trench of controversy that has been on for long over the selection of Shubham Builders for the redevelopment of the Kanchan Villa Co-operative Housing Society, which was wallowing in litigation for a little more than a decade. Appellants, being members of the society, had, in the meantime, questioned the selection of the developer in the high court on the score of procedural irregularities and, during this litigation, a new tender process was prayed for.
Key Points of Contention
The appellants' argument continued that the Housing Society's Development Agreement with Shubham Builders, adopted on May 5, 2013, was legally void since the said agreement was not buttressed by a properly convened general body meeting. They further contented that votes of four persons were added upon written consent instead of beings present which resulted in the defect arises in the process of approval.
Analysis and Findings By the Court
The High Court went through with great care the timeline and resolutions that were passed by the Housing Society over the years and observed that the history is replete with various approvals, cancellations, and reinstatements of the selection of the developer. The court observed that
1. Special General Body Meetings: There were various Special General Body Meetings of the society, but two very important ones were held on March 8, 2020, and October 10, 2021. At both these meetings, the majority of the members of the said society reaffirmed their support for Shubham Builders, and thus, it would appear that there is a collective will to go ahead with the redevelopment in view of earlier contentions.
2. Democratic Decision-Making: The court has held that, in line with the democratic nature of a cooperative society, the will of the majority should stand good so long as there is no real violation of a substantive legal right. Resolutions of 2020 and 2021, which were not set aside by the appellants, were indicative of the sentiment of the society to carry out the work with the developer.
3. Urgent Need for Redevelopment: The court has taken note of the photographs, with the minutes of society meetings projecting the poor condition of the building and has held that there was urgency for redevelopment. More than that, this inability to go on for internal bickerings hurt the interest of the members.
Conclusion
The Bombay High Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the order of the single judge, with directions to the appellants to vacate the flats for enabling the redevelopment. The court placed emphasis to deal with the project fast to avoid the degeneration of the building, as well as to respect the decision taken by the majority of the members of such society.
Implication
The ruling lays down much-warranted guidelines to cooperative housing societies facing stumbling blocks in redevelopment issues and tries to emphasize the enacting of projects based on majority decisions when there are no substantive legal violations. What this judgment clearly lays down is that cooperative members must gear up to resolve disputes quickly to avoid a deadlock in progress that otherwise could hamper majority members' living conditions.
In short, the court's judgment supports the principle that dissent is part of democratic processes within housing societies, but it should not result in derailing or impeding the progress and welfare of the majority.
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