The Bombay High Court, sitting through Justice Sandeep V. Marne, dismissed a writ petition challenging the concurrent orders of the Deputy Registrar, the Joint Registrar and the Minister (Co‑operation) that disqualified the petitioners under Section 154B‑23(1)(iii) of the Maharashtra Co‑operative Societies Act, 1960. The petitioners were members of the managing committee of a co‑operative housing society.
The dispute originated when another elected committee member applied for copies of the minutes of thirteen managing committee meetings held between April 2022 and March 2023, together with the video recording of the Annual General Meeting held on 24 September 2023. The applicant enclosed cheques towards copying costs and made repeated requests for the documents. The society did not furnish the requested material within the forty‑five day period prescribed by Section 154B‑8(2) of the Act.
Proceedings were initiated before the Deputy Registrar, who issued directions to produce the documents. Despite those directions, the petitioners continued to withhold the minutes of the managing committee meetings. The Court observed that the statutory period commenced as soon as the respondent submitted the written application accompanied by the cheques for copying charges, and that the society could not evade its obligation by refusing to encash the cheques.
The petitioners advanced several arguments in their defence. They contended that the respondent, being a member of the managing committee, was already entitled to inspect the records and had sought the documents solely to secure their disqualification. They asserted that the documents had eventually been supplied, that there had been substantial compliance with the statutory requirement, and that the power to order disqualification ought to be exercised sparingly.