The Bombay high court has said that mere succession by a son to a deceased father is not enough grounds for transfer of membership of a housing society.
The Bombay high court has said that mere succession by a son to a deceased father is not enough grounds for transfer of membership of a housing society. The court held that the nominee has to provide evidence proving his or her ownership to become a member of society. The verdict brought closure to a case that had been dragged on since the past 29 years.
While hearing the case between a woman who came in possession of a 5,610-sq-ft plot at Pune after the death of her husband as nominee and her four children, Justice A. P. Deshpande observed that the personal law of an individual determined successorship and not nomination under the Cooperative Societies Act. The issue came to court after the woman Tarabai, who was the wife of Shivram Sathur and was named the nominee, tried to sell off the plot at Nav Rajasthan cooperative housing society in Pune. The four children had challenged her right to sell the property in two lower courts, but the orders upheld it saying that she was the sole owner as a result of the nomination.
The HC disagreed on the grounds that as per Hindu law, if the head of the family died without leaving any will, the property had to be shared equally among his wife and children. Thus in the case the children also had right in the property as they were legal heirs of Sathur.
“The Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act does not provide for a special rule of succession altering the rule of succession laid down under the personal law,’’ the judge said. Elaborating on the role of the nominee, the court held that a nominee was not “absolute owner” but was only authorised to hold the “property in trust for the real owners, that too for the purpose of dealings with the society”. On finalisation of the heirs the nominee has to give way to them.
