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Issues involved: Whether the membership of a deceased member of a cooperative group housing society can be inherited by his nominee who is otherwise ineligible.
Summary: The judgment deals with the issue of whether the membership of a deceased member of a cooperative group housing society can be inherited by his nominee who is otherwise ineligible. The Petitioner-Society restricted its membership to widows with a specific income limit. The deceased member's son, Respondent No. 3, sought to inherit the membership but was deemed ineligible by the society. Respondent No. 3 filed a complaint before the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum and later approached the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, claiming membership. The Registrar ruled in favor of Respondent No. 3, allowing him to step into his deceased mother's membership. The Petitioner-Society's revision petition was dismissed, leading to the present case before the High Court. The High Court considered the eligibility criteria set by the Petitioner-Society and the entitlement of the nominee to inherit the deceased member's membership. Referring to the Supreme Court decision in Gayatri De v. Mousumi Cooperative Housing Society Ltd., the High Court distinguished between cases where the deceased member was allotted a plot or flat and cases where the member was only a society member. It was held that in the latter case, the membership itself cannot be inherited by a nominee, akin to membership in a club or association. The High Court cited previous decisions to support this distinction. Ultimately, the High Court concluded that Respondent No. 3 could not inherit the membership of his deceased mother due to his failure to meet the eligibility conditions specified by the Petitioner-Society. The Court also noted that the finality of the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum's decision did not prevent Respondent No. 3 from pursuing the matter further. The impugned orders by the Registrar and Financial Commissioner were deemed unsustainable in law, and the writ petition was allowed with no costs.
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