Pet it ioner v. Regist rar, Firm s Societ ies and Chit s Anot her

received from one Sri Piyush Bhat ia, a resident of t he Societ y, in which it was st at ed t hat t here are m any crim inal cases pending against Vice President of t he Associat ion, nam ely, Vikrant Phut ela.

3. From perusal of t he count er affidavit , it is revealed t hat t here is unrest am ongst resident s of Met ropolis Cit y against t he act ivit ies of t he Associat ion; resident s of t he Societ y are com pelled t o cough up huge am ount as m aint enance and ot her charges, however t hey have no say in t he decision m aking process.

4. An I nt ervent ion Applicat ion has been filed by five persons, who own apart m ent s in Met ropolis Cit y. Mr. Prabhakar Joshi, learned counsel appearing for t he I nt erveners, subm it s t hat as per t he Rules/ byelaws of t he Societ y, only t he Secret ary of t he Associat ion is ent it led t o file suit / writ pet it ion, while t his writ pet it ion is filed by Vikrant Phut ela, who is not t he Secret ary of t he Associat ion. Mr. Prabhakar Joshi drew 3 at t ent ion of t his Court t o t he descript ion of t he pet it ioner, as given in t he cause t it le, which reads as under: Resident “ Met ropolis Welfare Associat ion Through it s Vice- President having it s office at B- 2- 1/ 22, Met ropolis Cit y, Nainit al Hi- Way, Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar Through it s Secret ary Vikrant Phut ela S/ o Shri Chandra Mohan Phut eal R/ o Ward- 04, Avas Vikas, Kichha, Udham Singh Nagar. ….Pet it ioner Versus 1- Regist rar, Firm s Societ ies and Chit s, Opposit e R.B.I ., I .T. Park, Sahast radhara Road, Dehradun 2- Deput y Regist rar, Firm s Societ ies and Chit s, Udham Singh Nagar ….Respondent s”

5. I n para 2 of t he writ pet it ion, it is st at ed t hat t he writ pet it ion is being filed by Vice President Vikrant Phut ela, t herefore t he st at em ent m ade in cause t it le t hat t he writ pet it ion is being filed t hrough Secret ary of t he Associat ion is not correct .

6. Learned Counsel t he int erveners subm it s t hat Vikrant Phut ela, who filed t he writ pet it ion on behalf of Associat ion, was rem oved from t he O/ o Vice President vide order dat ed

20.8.2024, passed by t he President of t he Associat ion. The said order is enclosed as Annexure- 3 t o t he int ervent ion applicat ion, perusal whereof reveals t hat because of pendency of crim inal cases against t he Vice President , he was rem oved t he office and int im at ion regarding his rem oval was also sent t o t he Deput y Regist rar. 4

7. Learned Counsel t he int erveners subm it s t hat office bearers of t he Associat ion are collect ing m aint enance charge from resident s of the Society @₹1.85 per sq. ft. as against the agreed rate of maintenance charge of ₹1.20 per sq. ft and wit hout m aint aining t he societ y, t hey are m isappropriat ing t he funds collect ed from t he resident s in t he nam e of m aint enance charges and elect ricit y charges; t here are around 70 elevat ors in t he m ult ist oried building, which are being operat ed wit hout fit ness cert ificat e, t hus causing t hreat t o t he resident s on t he daily basis; solid wast e t reat m ent plant is not put in place in t he societ y, even t hough resident s are m aking cont ribut ions regularly at rat es higher t han what was agreed earlier.

8. From perusal of t he im pugned order, it is revealed t hat Devendra Shahi ( President of t he Associat ion) and Sunil Shukla ( Secret ary of t he Associat ion) were given personal hearing by t he Regist rar and t he President had also given his writ t en subm ission.

9. Regist rar, Firm s, Societ ies and Chit s is right in holding t hat as per Societ ies Regist rat ion Act , 1860, cap on m axim um num ber of m em bers of t he Societ y cannot be fixed. I n Met ropolis Cit y, t here are m ore t han 1600 apart m ent s, villas, shops and ot her propert ies and all of t hem are required t o pay m aint enance charge, elect ricit y charge and various ot her charges. Thus t he direct ion issued by t he Regist rar t o open 5 m em bership t o all int erest ed resident s of Met ropolis Cit y does not seem t o be arbit rary or unj ust .

10. Right t o associat ion a fundam ent al right , t herefore resident s Met ropolis Cit y cannot be denied t his valuable right by im posing cap on m axim um num ber of m em bers of t he resident welfare associat ion, especially when all t he resident s are paying m aint enance ot her charges t o t he Associat ion. Since all resident s of Met ropolis Cit y, who are paying m aint enance charges and various ot her charges t o t he Associat ion, are equal st akeholders as exist ing m em bers of t he Associat ion, t herefore, t hey cannot be left out of t he decision m aking process by denying m em bership t o t hem .

11. Thus, t his Court do not find any reason t o int erfere wit h t he order passed by t he Regist rar on 13.1.2025 and t he consequent ial issued by t he Deput y Regist rar on

12.2.2025. For t he sam e reason, t he not ice issued by Tehsildar, Rudrapur t o t he m em bers of t he Pet it ioner Associat ion t o at t end t he m eet ing scheduled on 17.4.2025 for discussing t he problem s faced by resident s of t he Societ y calls for no int erference. Accordingly, writ pet it ion fails and is dism issed. I nt erim order dat ed 22.5.2025 is vacat ed. ( M a n o j K u m a r Ti w a r i , J.) 1 7 .1 1 .2 0 2 5 Pr PRABODH KUMAR DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=3a082a00a95aff911a9559743af8f21c50602ff6eae4e61af3aeab198d462 503, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=0DC111E8D8CA66E16B940EFDF806ACCC1AB588052DF6FCA58C 67F3C91957BE53, cn=PRABODH KUMAR 6