Megha 16_wp_5469_2024 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.5469 OF 2024 Valley Tower Annex Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. ...Petitioner V/s. District Deputy Registrar Co-operative Society and Ors. ...Respondents WITH WRIT PETITION NO.5762 OF 2026 Valley Tower Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. ...Petitioner V/s. District Deputy Registrar Co-operative Society and Ors. ...Respondents WITH WRIT PETITION NO.9550 OF 2022 WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO.17219 OF 2022 IN WRIT PETITION NO.9550 OF 2022 Valley Tower C Wing Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. ...Petitioner V/s. District Deputy Registrar Co-operative Society and Ors. ...Respondents ________________ Mr. Girish Rao with Mr. Rakesh Gupte i/b. M/s. Lex Consultants for the Petitioner in WP/5469/2024 and WP/5762/2026. Page No. 1 of 6 7 July 2026 2026:BHC-AS:27988 Megha 16_wp_5469_2024 Mr. Mithil V. Sampat for the Petitioner in WP/9550/2022. Ms. S.D. Chipade, AGP for Respondent-State in WP/5469/2024. Ms. Savina Crasto, AGP for Respondent-State in WP/5762/2026. Mr. P.V. Nelson-Rajan, AGP for Respondent-State in WP/9550/2022. Mr. Kailas S. Dewal with Mr. Yash Dewal and Mr. Ashwin Kulkarni for Respondent No.2 in WP/5469/2024 & WP/5762/2026 and for Respondent No.3 in WP/9550/2022. Mr. Vinayak Joshi, secretary of Respondent No.5-Society in WP/5469/2024 and WP/5762/2026, is present. ________________ CORAM: SANDEEP V. MARNE, J. DATED: 7 JULY 2026. P.C.: 1) By these Petitions, the Petitioner-Societies have challenged orders passed by the District Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Thane & Competent Authority (Competent Authority) granting deemed conveyance of various lands in their favour. The Petitioner-Societies are aggrieved by the area of lands conveyed to them. 2) The grouse of the Petitioner-Societies is that the division of the land in the layout is not done by the Competent Authority proportionate to the built up area utilised in construction of each of the buildings. Accordingly, Writ Petition No.9550 of 2022 is Cled by the Petitioner- Valley Tower C Wing Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. challenging order dated 23 March 2021 passed by the Competent Authority, by which land admeasuring 3578 sq.mtrs. is conveyed when in fact, the Petitioner- Page No. 2 of 6 7 July 2026 Megha 16_wp_5469_2024 Society claims land admeasuring 6312.37 sq.mtrs. Similarly, Writ Petition No.5469 of 2024 is Cled by Petitioner-Valley Tower Annex Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. challenging order of the Competent Authority dated 20 April 2022, by which land admeasuring 3564 sq.mtrs. is conveyed when in fact, the Petitioner-Society claims land admeasuring 4667.20 sq.mtrs. Writ Petition No.5762 of 2026 is Cled by Petitioner- Valley Tower Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. challenging order dated 31 December 2025 passed by the Competent Authority, by which land admeasuring 2481 sq.mtrs. is conveyed when in fact the Petitioner- Society claims land admeasuring 3548 sq.mtrs. 3) I have heard Mr. Rao and Mr. Sampat, the learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner-Societies in the respective Petitions, Mr. Dewal, the learned counsel appearing for Respondent-Developer and the learned AGPs for Respondents-State and have considered the submissions canvassed by them. I have also perused the records of the case Cled alongwith the Petitions and have gone through the orders passed by the Competent Authority in the respective Petitions. 4) Perusal of the orders passed by the Competent Authority would indicate that it has mainly relied on certiCcate of architect dated 29 January 2021 issued by M/s. Thakkar & Associates, the Architect of the Developer. However, on perusal of the said Architect’s certiCcate dated 29 January 2021, it appears that the land division proportionate to the Built Up Area(BUA) utilised in construction of each building has not been done by that Architect. It appears that the Architect has mainly gone by the covenants of the Agreements executed under Section 4 of Page No. 3 of 6 7 July 2026 Megha 16_wp_5469_2024 the Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the Promotion of Construction, Sale, Management, and Transfer) Act, 1963 (MOFA) under which the land admeasuring 9840 sq.mtrs. was allocated for residential development. It is the contention of the Developer that all the three Societies and one bungalow must share only land admeasuring 9840 sq.mtrs. amongst them. 5) On the other hand, it is the contention of the Petitioner-Societies that FSI Gowing out of the entire larger land has been utilised for construction of the various buildings and therefore land division must occur on the basis of proportionate distribution qua utilised BUA for construction of each of the buildings. Petitioners have accordingly relied upon certiCcate issued by their own Architect -Mr. Mukund Bhat and have claimed that upon application of principle of division of land proportionate to BUA utilised in each of the buildings, their land entitlement would be the one which is claimed by them and which has been indicated above. 6) The orders of the Competent Authority are based on certiCcate issued by the Developer’s Architect dated 29 January 2021, which did not indicate proportionate division of land based on BUA utilised for construction of each of the buildings. In that view of the matter, the area of the land conveyed in favour of each of the Societies appears to be erroneous. Therefore, the applications Cled by the Petitioner- Societies need to be remanded for fresh enquiry. 7) I accordingly, proceed to pass the following order:- Page No. 4 of 6 7 July 2026 Megha 16_wp_5469_2024 (i) Orders dated 23 March 2021, 20 April 2022 and 31 December 2025 passed by the Competent Authority are set aside. (ii) Applications Cled by the Petitioner-Societies for deemed conveyance are restored on the Cle of the Competent Authority, who shall proceed to decide the same afresh by applying the principle of land division proportionate to BUA utilised in construction of each of the buildings and by keeping in mind the procedure prescribed in the Government Resolution dated 22 June 2018. (iii) In order to enable the Competent Authority to undertake the exercise of division of land proportionate to BUA utilised in each of the buildings, both the sides would be entitled to rely upon the certiCcate issued by their own Architect. The Architects of the parties must however, indicate land division in respect of each building proportionate to BUA utilised in construction of each of the buildings. (iv) In the event of any ambiguity, the Competent Authority would be at liberty to appoint Architect(s) from its own panel for the purpose of securing the Cgure of land division. Page No. 5 of 6 7 July 2026 Megha 16_wp_5469_2024 (v) All rights and contentions of the parties on merits are expressly kept open and the Competent Authority shall not be inGuenced by any of the observations made in the order while deciding the remanded applications. (vi) Parties shall appear before the Competent Authority on 15 July 2026 alongwith copy of this order downloaded from the website of this Court and seek further directions for Cxation of dates of hearing in the remanded applications. 8) With the above directions, the Writ Petitions are partly allowed and disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. 9) In view of disposal of the Petitions, nothing survives to be adjudicated in the Interim Application and the same is accordingly disposed of. [SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.] Page No. 6 of 6 7 July 2026 Signed by: Megha S. Parab Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 09/07/2026 10:41:50