**Mumbai: Bombay High Court Upholds Registrar’s Dissolution of Housing Society Managing Committee; Orders Fresh Elections**

The Bombay High Court has ruled that a housing society’s managing committee ceases to exist in law once it loses quorum. It further held that the Registrar is justified in dissolving such a committee to ensure smooth administration of the society.

### Fresh Elections Ordered to Restore Democratic Functioning

Justice Amit Bokar dismissed a petition filed by members of the Purshottam Bhagwan Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., Jeevan Jyot, located in Khar West. The court directed that fresh elections be conducted within two weeks to restore the society’s “democratic functioning.”

### Orders Under Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act Upheld

The court upheld previous orders passed by the district deputy registrar, divisional joint registrar, and the Minister for Co-operation under Section 77A of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (MCS Act). These authorities had successively confirmed the dissolution of the managing committee and the appointment of an administrator after the committee lost quorum.

### Committee Lost Quorum Following Resignations

The society’s managing committee originally consisted of eight members elected in January 2022 for a five-year term. However, between April and June 2023, four members resigned. With the committee’s strength falling below the required quorum of five, the registrar dissolved the committee in November 2024 and appointed an administrator to manage the society’s affairs.

Petitioners’ appeals and revisions against this decision were dismissed in March and July 2025 respectively, leading to the present writ petition.

### Petitioners Challenge Dissolution Process

Senior advocate Girish Godbole, representing the petitioners, argued that the registrar acted without issuing the mandatory notice inviting objections before dissolving the committee. He contended that no urgency justified waiving this procedural requirement.

Additionally, Godbole stated that the remaining committee members had co-opted two replacements to maintain quorum. The petitioners also relied on a Government Resolution (GR) issued on January 3, 2024, which reduced the number of committee members to five and the quorum to three for small societies. They urged the court to apply this GR retroactively to validate their actions.

### Respondents Assert Legal Limitations

Opposing the plea, Anil Sakhare, counsel for the respondent society members (some of whom had resigned from the managing committee), argued the 2024 GR was prospective and did not apply to committees formed earlier.

He submitted that since four members had resigned, the committee’s strength fell to four — below the quorum of five — and thus it could no longer legally function or co-opt new members.

### Court Upholds Registrar’s Action and Legal Position on Quorum

The court agreed with the respondents, emphasizing that quorum is not a mere technicality but a legal minimum essential for collective decision-making.

The judgment stated that the 2024 GR introduced substantive changes and could not be applied retrospectively. “Accepting the petitioners’ plea would amount to rewriting history and validating what was invalid under the law then in force,” the court observed.

While finding no fault in the registrar’s decision to appoint an administrator without notice given the management vacuum, Justice Borkar noted that ordinarily, preference should be given to appointing members from within the society rather than outsiders.

### Election Process to Begin Without Further Delay

Although dismissing the petition, the court directed the authorised officer currently managing the society to initiate the election process within two weeks and complete it “at the earliest” to ensure early restoration of elected governance.

“In my opinion, therefore, the proper course in the present facts is not to unsettle the appointment already made, but to ensure that elections are held without any further delay,” the 47-page detailed judgment concluded.

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