Mumbai: Bombay high court has set aside an order of a fine of over Rs 15 lakh sought to be recovered by a cooperative housing society as penal charges for parking of a bicycle worth Rs 11,000 on the staircase for allegedly 11 years. It is a “rather bizarre situation’’, Justice Sandeep Marne said in a judgment pronounced last week.“Byelaw 169(a) (penalties for encroachment of common spaces) cannot be misused by the society for retrospectively levying penalty for 11 long years for the trifle act of parking of bicycle,’’ ruled Justice Marne. “What is done by the society is an egregious act, which amounts to arbitrary exercise of power.”Dhanlakshmi Co-operative Housing Society Ltd had accused the petitioners, Yogini Parikh and Sejal Patel, of encroaching upon common spaces by parking the bicycle between the first and ground floors of the building for 11 years and accordingly called upon them to show cause as to why penalty for encroachment should not be collected from them vide letter dated August 13, 2021.Parikh and Patel, who challenged the fine, had come to the HC against an order dated April 8, 2026, passed by the district deputy registrar, Co-operative Societies, Mumbai City to the limited extent that it sought to remand the proceedings for fresh adjudication before the deputy registrar, Cooperative Societies, G/North Ward.On April 4, 2025, the deputy registrar had allowed an application filed by Dhanlakshmi Co-operative Housing Society Ltd and issued the recovery certificate for Rs 15,45,730 against the petitioners.Justice Marne observed, “Deputy registrar has not even bothered to go into the reason for which such a stiff penalty was sought to be recovered by the society. He has mechanically acted in the matter by issuing the recovery certificate of the demanded sum.’’He added, “The district deputy registrar has also followed the course of acting mechanically in making an order of remand. Both the authorities ought to have appreciated the absurdity in the demand of the society. There is serious jurisdiction error committed by both the authorities.’’The HC observed that if the petitioners were unauthorisedly parking the bicycle in the staircase for 11 years, the society ought to have objected contemporaneously and sought its immediate removal.Significantly, the HC said, “By their inaction in communicating any objection, the society acquiesced in parking of the bicycle and is stopped from charging a penalty for the same after 11 years. The demand for a penalty could have been raised prospectively.”Noting that the petitioners had deposited nearly Rs 4 lakh while filing the revision plea under the provisions of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, the HC also ruled, “Now that the recovery certificate is being set aside, the deposited amount must be refunded to them.’’
