Registrar Cannot Reserve Promoter's Right to Form Separate Cooperative Society Against Contractual Undertaking: Bombay High Court
Case Overview
Case Name: Kritika Jewels Coop. Housing Society Vs State of Maharashtra & Ors. (Bombay High Court)
**Writ Petition No.😗* 12234 of 2024
Date of Order: 19/11/2025
Court: Bombay High Court
Background and Facts of the Case
The Bombay High Court recently ruled on a significant question concerning the powers of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act (MCS Act) — specifically, whether the Registrar can insert a reservation in a registration order granting the promoter a future right to form a separate cooperative society, when the promoter's own registered agreements with purchasers clearly commit to the formation of a single common society.
The petitioner, Kritika Jewels Coop. Housing Society, challenged the order dated 17 October 2019, through which the Registrar permitted registration of the petitioner society but simultaneously reserved the promoter's liberty to form a separate cooperative society for 14 commercial shops located on the first floor above the stilt parking area. This reservation was subsequently affirmed in appeal vide order dated 17 May 2024, prompting the present writ petition.
The Project Layout
Respondent No. 4, the lessee of the plot in question (granted by CIDCO), had developed a project as per a sanctioned plan approved by CIDCO. The sanctioned layout depicted three buildings containing 120 residential units and 14 commercial shops. According to the petitioner, the commercial shops were not housed in any independent or standalone structure. Instead, they formed an integral part of the same building blocks — identified as Solitaire and Emerald — and shared critical infrastructure including the common sewage system and the water tank situated within the society premises.
These physical indicators, the petitioner argued, confirmed the integrated nature of the project and demonstrated that the shops were part of the same township and not a commercially independent block.
Steps Towards Society Registration
Even after receiving the occupancy certificate from CIDCO, the promoter (Respondent No. 4) failed to take any steps towards forming and registering a cooperative housing society. Consequently, the flat purchasers filed an application on 11 July 2019 for registration of the society themselves.
The Registrar issued notices, conducted hearings, and acknowledged the flat purchasers' entitlement to form a society. While the Registrar ordered registration of the petitioner society, the order included an additional condition — reserving in favour of the promoter the right to form a separate cooperative society for the 14 commercial shops as per the sanctioned plan.
Legal Arguments Advanced
Petitioner's Submissions
Counsel for the petitioner argued that the Registrar had exceeded his statutory jurisdiction by inserting the impugned reservation. The following principal arguments were advanced:
Binding contractual undertaking: Clauses 4(g), 20, 28, 30 and 44 of the registered agreements executed with purchasers contained the promoter's explicit undertaking to establish one common cooperative society covering both residential flat purchasers and commercial shop purchasers. A registered agreement constitutes a binding commitment that could not be bypassed without lawful justification.
Shops not a separate structural unit: The sanctioned plans did not depict the commercial shops as forming a separate building or a distinct wing. They were physically integrated into the same building structure.