The Bombay High Court upheld an order by a divisional joint registrar of Cooperative Societies that barred a Mumbai resident from a suburban housing society from contesting managing committee elections due to having more than two children.
Mumbai, Maharashtra: The Bombay High Court upheld an order by a divisional joint registrar of cooperative societies that barred a Mumbai resident from a suburban housing society from contesting managing committee elections due to having more than two children.
READ ALSO: Bombay High Court Quashes FIR in Matrimonial Dispute
The cooperative societies law, amended in 2019, disqualifies individuals with more than two children from holding such positions. The man claimed that the third child was not his but was only studying at his house. However, he provided no evidence to support this claim.
Consequently, the High Court found no fault in his disqualification based on the law. On his lawyer Swapnil Bangur’s request, the court extended a stay on the election for the housing society’s chairperson position by two weeks to allow him to appeal.
READ ALSO: Supreme Court Criticizes Bombay High Court’s Bail Decision in Money Laundering Case
In a June 13 judgment, Justice Avinash Gharote of the High Court noted that the petitioner, a resident of a Kandivali housing society, challenged a May 15, 2023, order from a deputy registrar of cooperative societies that disqualified him as a committee member.
Uday Warunjikar, counsel for a member who opposed the petitioner, stated that the provision barring members with more than two children from holding a managing committee post has existed since 2001, with the Act being amended in March 2019.
READ ALSO: Renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad: Bombay High Court Rejects the Plea
The High Court ruled that since the petitioner had three children after the Act’s commencement in 2001, there was no reason to set aside the cooperative registrar’s order of disqualification.
