Know Your Rights!!

In the case of Bima Nagar Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. v. Divisional Joint Registrar & Ors. WP 10768 of 2024 , the Bombay High Court on 23.09.2024 dismissed the society’s petition challenging the membership transfer to Pushpa Morey, a widow, following her husband's death. Initially, Pushpa was granted provisional membership but was later denied full membership by the society. Pushpa applied for full membership after her husband's passing. When the society refused, she sought help from the Deputy Registrar, who ordered that the society admit her as a full member under Section 22(2) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. The society’s appeal to the Divisional Joint Registrar was unsuccessful, prompting the writ petition in the Bombay High Court. The society argued that the "family arrangement" concept under Section 154B-13 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act applies only to a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). Pushpa, however, contended tha...

  The very recent judgements from the Karnataka and Bombay High Courts have left me thinking about the best way to handle family disputes over gift deeds. Both courts dealt with cases where parents transferred property through a gift deed to their children, hoping for care and support in return. However, the conclusions reached by the two courts were surprisingly different! The Karnataka High Court’s stand: Implied Obligations Matter Let’s start with the Karnataka High Court’s decision on July 29, 2024. In the case of Smt. Shoba v. Dr. Anil P. Kumar (Neutral Citation: 2024:KHC-K:5437) , a mother named Shobha transferred her property to her son, Dr. Anil P Kumar. She believed that he would take care of her in her old age. The gift deed didn’t specifically say he had to do so, but it was understood between them. However, things didn’t go as planned. Shobha felt that her son wasn’t keeping his promise. So, she went to court. Justice Suraj Govindaraj decided that even though the gift...