Kiran Raj

The Bombay High Court has set aside an order of the District Deputy Registrar (DDR) of Co-operative Societies, rejecting the application for deemed conveyance filed by Veer Tower Co-operative Housing Society Limited. The court directed the competent authority to issue a deemed conveyance certificate in accordance with the architect’s certificate submitted by the petitioner. The ruling was made in response to a writ petition challenging the rejection of deemed conveyance under Section 11 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the Promotion of Construction, Sale, Management, and Transfer) Act, 1963 (MOFA Act).

The petitioner, Veer Tower Co-operative Housing Society Limited, filed an application on March 8, 2022, before the District Deputy Registrar, seeking deemed conveyance of land situated at CTS No. 54/C, Village Kandivali, Dev Nagar, Mumbai. The petitioner contended that it was entitled to an area of 4,199.93 square meters out of a total 8,122.01 square meters, which included a share in the common recreation ground and an FSI benefit for the setback area.

The petitioner relied on an architect’s certificate that confirmed its entitlement to 51.71% of the land based on its built-up area. The competent authority rejected the application on May 19, 2022, citing the following reasons: the full Floor Space Index (FSI) had not yet been utilized by the developer, the conveyance was contractually linked to the complete redevelopment of all constituent societies, and discrepancies were noted in the architect’s certificate.

Respondents No. 2 and 3, representing the developers, opposed the application on the ground that conveyance was contractually designated for a federation of societies and not for an individual society. They argued that the redevelopment project was incomplete and that the petitioner alone could not claim deemed conveyance.

Respondent No. 5 challenged the application on the ground that the petitioner lacked proper authorization. Respondents No. 6 to 9 contended that the available FSI had not been fully exhausted and that the architect’s certification was inconsistent with the sanctioned plan of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).

The competent authority further held that the redevelopment process was unfinished and that a religious trust associated with the property had a right to utilize 1,228.61 square meters of FSI for additional construction. This formed the basis for rejecting the petitioner’s application for deemed conveyance.

The Bombay High Court examined the statutory provisions under the MOFA Act and considered previous judicial precedents. The court noted that Section 11 of the MOFA Act does not condition the right to deemed conveyance upon the completion of redevelopment. It stated: “The statutory right of a co-operative society to obtain a deemed conveyance cannot be made contingent on indefinite redevelopment plans, as such a delay would undermine the core objective of Section 11.”

The court observed that the petitioner had been waiting for over a decade to receive the conveyance despite being entitled to it. It held: “A delay of over ten years in granting conveyance amounts to an unreasonable deprivation of the society’s statutory and equitable entitlements.”

The court further ruled that in the absence of contradictory documentary evidence, the architect’s certificate provided by the petitioner constituted a valid basis for granting deemed conveyance. The ruling referenced legal precedents such as Shimmering Heights CHSL v. State of Maharashtra and Zainul Abedin Yusufali Massawala v. Competent Authority, which affirmed that disputes concerning excess land allocation or redevelopment conditions should be adjudicated through civil suits rather than being used as grounds to reject deemed conveyance applications.

Additionally, the court noted that the MOFA Act prioritizes the protection of flat purchasers and stated: “The statutory mandate of Section 11 must be enforced, irrespective of incomplete redevelopment or unfulfilled conditions imposed by the developers.”

The court held that the Competent Authority was required to issue the conveyance certificate as per the architect’s certificate since no contradictory evidence was presented by the respondents to dispute its authenticity.

Based on its findings, the Bombay High Court issued the following directives:

1. The order dated May 19, 2022, rejecting the petitioner’s application for deemed conveyance, was quashed and set aside.

2. The case was remitted to the competent authority to issue a certificate of conveyance as per the architect’s certificate dated March 5, 2022.

3. The competent authority was directed to issue the requisite certificate under Section 11(4) of the MOFA Act within four weeks from the next hearing date.

4. The parties were ordered to appear before the competent authority on March 3, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. for further proceedings.

5. The respondents' request for a stay on the judgment was denied.

Case Title: Veer Tower Co-operative Housing Society Limited

                 v. District Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies & Ors.

Case Number: Writ Petition No. 211 of 2023

Bench: Justice Amit Borkar

[Read/Download order]