Housing society cannot be forced to give redevelopment right to builder

The Bombay high court has held that a housing society cannot be compelled to give rights of redevelopment to a builder unless a contract has been signed between the parties.

The Bombay high court has held that a housing society cannot be compelled to give rights of redevelopment to a builder unless a contract has been signed between the parties.

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Chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Nitin Jamdar, last week, dismissed an appeal filed by builder Gopi Gorwani against a trial court order that refused him redevelopment rights of Jeevan Prabha Housing Society in Bandra on the ground that there was no concluded contract between him and the society.

"Having heard the rival contentions, we are of the view that the trial judge was right in coming to a conclusion that the [plea filed by the builder against the society] deserved to be dismissed," the judges observed. "Prima facie, the correspondence… between the parties clearly indicates that the development agreement between the parties was not signed. Before the development agreement could be signed, the society… decided not to continue with the appellant as its developer.

Thus the society decided not to enter into any agreement with the appellant," the bench noted. "The initial resolution, it appears, was merely a decision to explore the possibility of redevelopment through [the builder]. This resolution and subsequent correspondence indicates that final decision of entrustment of development work to the [builder] was yet to be taken,” the judges said.