Delhi HC asks registrar of cooperative societies to respond to contempt plea of homeowners

The Delhi High Court has sought the response of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies on a plea by several homeowners of a cooperative group housing society, requesting contempt action against authorities for not deciding their applications for regularisation of memberships in a time-bound manner.

Justice Sachin Datta issued notice on the contempt plea filed on behalf of various homebuyers of Vimal Cooperative Group Housing Society situated in Dwarka's Sector 12 here.

''Issue notice to the respondent (registrar), on necessary steps being taken by the petitioners, through all permissible modes including electronically, returnable on December 1, 2022,'' the court said.

Advocate Abhishek Prasad, appearing for the homeowners, submitted that the petitioners are aggrieved that the directions passed by the high court in its February 16 order have not been complied with by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

''The petitioners are constrained to file the present petition due to the wilful disobedience and deliberate inaction of the respondent in complying with the time-bound direction passed by this court,'' he argued.

In the main petition, the homeowners had approached the court seeking regularisation of their memberships as well as of other similarly placed members within a period of three months.

After hearing the parties, the high court on February 2 disposed of the petition with a direction to the registrar to decide the pleas for regularisation of memberships within three months.

''However, keeping in view the limited directions proposed to be passed by this court, the need for a counter affidavit is not felt necessary. Accordingly, this court disposes of the present writ petition with a direction to Respondent no. 1 (registrar) to decide the aforesaid applications filed by the Petitioner as well as the Cooperative Society in accordance with law by way of a reasoned order within three months. The rights and contentions of all the parties are left open,'' it had said.

The petitioners said they had purchased flats in the society in 2004 and were issued share certificates which meant that they were enrolled as a member by the society in the same year and have been in possession of the property.

''After purchasing the flats, the petitioners were shocked to learn that their memberships were not reflected in the records maintained with the respondent/ Registrar of Cooperative Societies on account of the society enrolling the petitioners as members without following the procedure set out under the Delhi Cooperative Societies Rules,'' the plea said.

The homebuyers sought regularisation of their membership. However, the registrar despite being empowered to regularise memberships and having applications pending before him for a considerable period of time failed to pass any order after which the petitioners approached the court.

''It is worth mentioning here that the application(s) seeking regularisation of the membership has been pending with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies for at least a period of about 13 years as the first application seeking regularisation of the membership was filed by the society in the year 2009,'' the contempt plea said.