Conveyance – Denial for 10 years for non-developement of two other buildings
The agreement with the members of the petitioner society was concluded in 2014 but till 2022 conveyance was not executed.
On 8.3.2022, the petitioner – society submitted proposal for unilateral deemed conveyance under Section 11 of MOFA Act for 4,199.93 sq.mts land out of larger plot of 8,1222.01 sq.mts at Kandivali and also recreation ground & FSI benefit. The Authority had rejected the said application.
The following contentions were raised by the Respondents in the writ petition opposing the prayer of the petitioner society –
- The Agreement provided for conveyance to a federation of Societies;
- The deemed conveyance will crystallize on completion of redevelopment of two remaining buildings.
HELD that the statutory scheme of MOFA, particularly section 11, is designed to confer an immediate and enforceable right to conveyance on societies, irrespective of peripheral contractual or developmental contingencies. Equitable principles further dictate that cannot benefit from its own delay or default to prejudice the rights of another.
The indefinite stagnation of the redevelopment project, attributable solely to the respondents’ inaction cannot be justify further deprivation of conveyance to a society.
MOFA Act does not contemplate relegating a society’s statutory rights to deemed conveyance to the vagaries of an uncertain and uncommenced redevelopment process.
The petitioner’s right to conveyance having matured on execution of the agreement cannot be subordinated to the respondents’ unsubstantiated assurances of future compliance.
The indefinite postponement of the redevelopment process, coupled with the absence of a definitive timeline, underscores the speculative nature of the respondents; reliance on future events to deny the petitioner’s statutory rights to deemed conveyance.
Judgment dated 18.2.2025 of the High Court of Bombay Writ Petition No.211 of 2023 of Veer Tower Cooperative Housing Society Ltd Vs. District Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Mumbai City (4) and others
