MUMBAI: In a victory for erstwhile managing committee members and other residents of Grand Paradi , a landmark high rise at Kemps Corner in South Mumbai , the Bombay high court on Tuesday set aside, as unsustainable, disqualification of the managing committee and appointment of an administrator over the cooperative housing society’s affairs.

Developer, Mont Blanc Properties, had built Grand Paradi's iconic three towers and 14 row houses four decades ago.

The HC set aside orders passed by a deputy registrar as well as minister of cooperation which had last year barred managing committee from continuing their term, also barred their re-election and had brought in an administrator over the society, one of the oldest, biggest and affluent residential spaces with three 28-storeyed towers.

Sachin Sheth and nine other residents had moved the HC against the minister’s order.

The HC held that the administrator was appointed in a complaint pertaining to a dispute that had already “achieved quietus’’ through “an amicable settlement,’’ and could not have been “raked up” again. The issue concerned excessive transfer fee charges sought by the society from new members.

The society for several years was charging transfer charges from new purchasers of flats before admitting them as members

In 2016, Rikav and Rushabh Shah had applied for new membership and permission to renovate their flat without paying transfer charges. The Managing Committee declined permission. The dispute was eventually resolved amicably.

Justice S C Gupte observed that the “genesis” of the dispute was an application filed by the five members for disqualification of the erstwhile managing committee of Grand Paradi housing society alleging that members were being charged excessive transfer fees, as high as Rs 34 lakh in some cases. On this complaint the deputy registrar had disqualified 10 members as managing committee members in December 2016. Though a divisional joint registrar set aside the disqualification order, in revision, on December 6, 2017, the minister, Subhash Deshmukh, as a revisional authority, restored the deputy registrar’s order.

Counsel for Grand Paradi society, Biren Saraf said that the society has last May recalled its 2015 general body resolution regarding transfer fees.

The administrator had immediately sealed the society office last December. But Justice Gautam Patel had a day later ordered immediate unsealing of the office and had stayed further actions of the administrator.

Deciding the matter finally, on Tuesday, Justice S C Gupte after hearing Saraf and Vineet Naik, counsel for Anup Patel and four others who had filed the disqualification complaint, held in the society’s favour. He observed that the complaint by the five members was filed barely three days after an amicable settlement between Shahs and the Society, in October 2016.

The HC observed that the Shahs had even withdrawn complaints against the society. “After quietus was thus given, the same issue appears to have been raked up before the registrar by five others…Once the matter was resolved there was no occasion for the deputy registrar to pass an order of disqualification of managing committee…Other members cannot wake up and rake up same issue.’’

Naik said it was “essentially a complaint about exorbitant unauthorized charges being collected from others, the issue of Shahs was highlighted only as an instance.’’ He also said that, “In any case the Shahs have not finally accepted the settlement and have written to the Malabar Hill police in August 2017 to say that earlier withdraw was under duress and that they wished to pursue the criminal case against society.’’

