Maharashtra court upholds housing society's right to clamp illegally parked vehicles

Reinforcing the authority of cooperative housing societies to regulate common amenities the Maharashtra State Cooperative Appellate Court has dismissed an appeal filed by two residents of Magnum Tower Cooperative Housing Society in Lalbaug challenging the societyrsquos power to clamp vehicles parked in unauthorised spacesIn a 16page judgment delivered on July 1 President SS Sapatnekar upheld an earlier order of Cooperative Court No 3 Mumbai permitting the society to clamp wrongly parked vehicles provided it first issues a 48hour written notice stating clear reasons for the actionThe appeal arose from an interim order passed on February 26 2026 in a dispute between the flat owners and the society The appellate court refused to interfere with the lower courtrsquos interim order observing that the trial court had exercised its discretion judiciously and had already balanced the interests of both parties by imposing procedural safeguards before any coercive action could be takenThe court confirmed that vehicle clamping can be undertaken only after issuing a 48hour prior written notice the notice must contain recorded and cogent reasons and the interim protection granted by the trial court remains valid until the final disposal of the disputeFlat owners alleged thathellipThe society delayed granting membership they were subjected to harassment additional financial demands were imposed and parking restrictions were unfairly enforcedAppellants alleged the housing societyhellipgtgt Collected Rs 5000 towards legal document verificationgtgt Accepted Rs 150 lakh in cash as a welfare fund donationgtgt Levied an alleged illegal parking penalty of Rs 86138gtgt Refused additional parking despite allegedly having numerous vacant parking spacesgtgt Constructed a community hall kitchen and laundry rooms in areas allegedly reserved for parkingThey also soughtgtgt Removal of the alleged unauthorised constructionsgtgt Refund of amounts allegedly collected unlawfullyParking disputeDuring the appellate hearing the appellants clarified that they were not pressing their interim prayers seeking additional parking spaces or a waiver of parking penalties Instead the appeal was confined solely to challenging the Trial Courtrsquos permission allowing the society to clamp unauthorised vehiclesThe housing society argued thathellipParking areas continue to remain under the developer as conveyance has not yet been executedThe society neither allots nor sells parking spacesFlat purchasers obtained parking directly from the developerMembers cannot claim multiple parking spaces as a matter of rightGeneral Body approved strict parking rulesThe society relied upon resolutions passed at an extraordinary general body meeting EGBM held on May 5 2025 The resolutions approvedgtgt Rs 500 per day penalty for unauthorised parkinggtgt Clamping of vehicles that remain wrongly parked despite prior intimationgtgt Disciplinary proceedings against members allegedly causing repeated disturbancesThe society argued that these resolutions were never challenged and therefore remain legally bindingDemocratic decisions upheldThe Appellate Court observed thatGeneral Body resolutions represent the collective will of membersCourts should ordinarily not interfere unless resolutions are illegal or beyond jurisdictionThe appellants had never challenged the validity of the May 5 2025 resolutionConsequently the parking resolution continues to bind all membersCourt relies on precedentsThe appellate court referred to judicial precedents holding thatCooperative societies enjoy constitutional autonomyCourts should avoid unnecessary interference in their internal affairsValidly passed resolutions under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act deserve implementationMembersrsquo rights are governed by the Act the societyrsquos byelaws and General Body resolutionsSuch resolutions remain binding unless set aside by a competent judicial forumThe disputeThe dispute involves flat owners Nirmal Ajayraj Sottany and Rushek Nirmal Sottany who purchased Flat No 1501 in Magnum Tower through a Punjab National Bank auction They claimed that they had cleared maintenance dues of approximately Rs 3 lakh paid a transfer fee of Rs 25000 and obtained a nodue certificate from the developerpopcorn numberJuly 1 descDay judgment was delivered classDefault