Renuka Thakur 40-WP-4316-2026.docx IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 4316 OF 2026 Chandrakant Mandavkar and Anr. ...Petitioners V/s. The Deputy Registrar Co-Op Societies Mahada Mumbai and Ors ...Respondents ________________ Mr. Prashant P. Kulkarni a/w Ms. Rachna Mamnani, Ms. Ritika Rajeev for Petitioner. Mr. R. N. Mulla for Respondent No. 3. Mr. A. A. Alaspurkar, AGP for Respondent-State. ________________ CORAM: SANDEEP V. MARNE, J. DATED: 28 SEPTEMBER 2026. P.C.: 1) The Petitioner challenges order dated 12 February 2026 passed by the Joint Registrar, Co-operative Societies, SRA, Mumbai (Joint Registrar) rejecting the Revision Application No. 553 of 2023 and confirming the order dated 25 October 2023 passed by the Deputy Registrar. By order dated 25 October 2023, the Deputy Registrar, in exercise of powers under Section 75 (5) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (MCS Act), has disqualified the chairman, secretary and treasurer of the society from being members of the managing committee and from being elected as members of the managing committee for a period of a 5 years. Page No. 1 of 3 28 SEPTEMBER 2026 2026:BHC-AS:39926 Renuka Thakur 40-WP-4316-2026.docx 2) I have heard Mr. Kulkarni, the learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner, Mr. Mulla, the learned counsel appearing for Respondent No. 3 and Mr. Alaspurkar, the learned AGP appearing for Respondent- State and have considered the submissions canvassed by them. 3) Perusal of the order passed by the Deputy Registrar would indicate that he has recorded a finding that there is violation of provisions of Section 75(2), (2A) and (4) of the MCS Act by not placing before the general body, the audit rectification report while conducting annual general body meetings for the years 2019-2020 and for the year 2020-2021. 4) It appears that in the revision filed before the Divisional Registrar, the Petitioners specifically raised following ground :- j) That, in respect of Annual Report, Balance Sheet of the society for the said period 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, the Ld. Respondent No.1 failed to consider that the General Body of Society as well as the Government Certificate Auditor have acknowledged and approved the balance sheet for the financial years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 without raising any doubt and thus, anything against the said Audit Reports is improper, illegal, bad-in-law and against the supremacy given to the General Body of the Society as per Section 72 of the MCS Act, 1960. 5) Additionally, Petitioners specifically pointed out before the Joint Registrar that there is no violation of provisions of Section 75 (2) (2A) and 4 of the MCS Act since all the requisite documents were produced before the general body meeting. However, it appears that the Joint Registrar has failed to adjudicate the grounds raised by the Petitioners. Perusal of the order passed by the Joint Registrar would indicate that he has merely reproduced provisions of Section 75 of the Page No. 2 of 3 28 SEPTEMBER 2026 Renuka Thakur 40-WP-4316-2026.docx MCS Act. There is no application of mind by the Joint Registrar to various grounds raised by the petitioners. The order passed by the Joint Registrar suffers from vice of non-application of mind. The order is therefore unsustainable and deserves to be set aside. In my view therefore, proceedings need to be remanded to the Joint Registrar for fresh adjudication. 6) Petition succeeds in part and I proceed to pass the following order:- (i) Order dated 12 February 2026 passed by the Joint Registrar is set aside. (ii) Revision Application No. 553 of 2023 is remanded to the Joint Registrar for a fresh adjudication. (iii) Till the Joint Registrar decides the revision, ad-interim relief granted by this Court by order dated 7 April 2026 shall continue to operate. (iv) All contentions of parties on merits are expressly kept open. 7) With the above directions, Writ Petition is partly allowed and disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. [SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.] Page No. 3 of 3 28 SEPTEMBER 2026 Signed by: Renuka S Thakur Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 01/10/2026 10:40:10