More than two children? Can’t join housing society committee: Bombay HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court recently upheld an order disqualifying a Kandivali resident from the managing committee of his housing society because he had more than two children. The court held that the “small family” rule, introduced in the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (MCS) Act, 1960, by a 2019 amendment, was applicable in the case.

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The “small family” rule disqualifies a person with more than two children from joining a co-operative housing society’s managing committee.

A single-judge bench of Justice Avinash Gharote dismissed a petition filed by Pawankumar Singh, a member of Charkop Kandivali Ekta Nagar Co-operative Housing Society. Singh had moved the high court after the Divisional Joint Registrar, Co-operative Societies, on May 2 rejected his appeal challenging a May 2023 order passed by the deputy registrar disqualifying him as a member of his society’s managing committee.

After the society elections last year, two members, Deepak Tejade and Ramachal Yadav, had filed a complaint with the Deputy Registrar, Western Suburbs, claiming that Singh was disqualified to be a part of the managing committee because he had more than two children. This was in violation of Section 154B-23 of the MCS Act, they argued.

Singh’s counsel, Swapnil Bangur, submitted that section 154B(1) of the MCS Act excludes the applicability of Sections 154B-1 to 154B-31 of the MCS Act to co-operative housing societies. So the deputy registrar could not have declared him disqualified and, as a result, the complaint filed by Tejade and Yadav was liable to be rejected.

Advocate Uday Warunjikar, who appeared for Yadav, submitted that the relevant provisions were applicable to housing societies, and Singh was corrected disqualified.

Justice Gharote accepted Warunjkar’s arguments, saying, “Section 154B-23 is an independent provision, and operates independently and would mandate disqualification of a member if he has more than two children.”

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Dismissing the petition, the court said the registration authorities disqualifying Singh from the managing committee “cannot be faulted with on account of absence of jurisdiction”.

The court also rejected Singh’s contention that one of the three children – claimed by the complainants to be his as his name was added to his ration card – was not his and was merely brought to his house for educational purposes. The court rejected the claim after he failed to submit the boy’s birth certificate.

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