$~56 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision: 19^th March, 2026 Uploaded on: 24^th March, 2026 + W.P.(C) 13201/2024 VINEET BHARDWAJ .....Petitioner Through: Ms Rashmi Jain and Akhil Kumar Beriwal, Advs.

versus REGISTRAR OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETY & ANR.

.....Respondents Through: Mr. Gagan Kumar, Ms. Puja Jakhar, Mr. Suraj Dhawan, Advs.

Mr. Abhinav Sharma, Mr. Ujjwal Jain, Advs. CORAM:

JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE MADHU JAIN Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been filed, inter alia, seeking clearance of the Petitioner’s membership in Respondent No. 2 - Gulshan-E-Iqbal CGHS Ltd.

(hereinafter “the Society”).

3. The brief facts of the case are that the Society had published on 23rd May,2013apublicnoticeintwonewspapers i.e.,VeerArjun(Hindi)andThe Hindu (English), in respect of one vacancy of membership therein. In response to the said notice, 24 applications had been received, out of which 10 were rejected. In respect of the remaining 14 applications which were approved,includingthe Petitioner’s application,a drawoflots was conducted by the Society on 21^st June 2013 and the membership was allotted to the Petitioner.

4. Further to the above,a Demand-cum-Allotment letter was issued to the Petitioner on 24^th June, 2013 along with a share certificate with membership no. 398. The Petitioner was also asked to deposit a sum of Rs. 25,68,610/-

within 30 days and the said amount was duly deposited.

5. However, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (hereinafter “RCS”) refused to approve the said allotment on the ground that there was a violation ofRule19(2)oftheDelhiCooperativeSocietyRules,2007(hereinafter“DCS Rules”). As per the said Rule, the RCS was required to be intimated within 15 days of the vacancy arising, and thereafter, an advance copy of the public notice in the newspaper had to be sent to the RCS. In addition to this, at the time of draw of lots an official of the RCSought to have been present, but the draw of lots was conducted only in the presence of the President. For ease of reference, the Rule 19(2) of the DCS Rules is extracted hereunder:

“19. Conditions to be complied with for admission to membership:-

(1) [...]

(2) In case of vacancy in a co-operative housing society the Registrar shall be intimated within a period of fifteen days of the vacancy and the same shall be filled by the committee by notifying it in leading national dailies/ newspapers of Delhi in Hindi and English. An advance copy of the advertisement shall be sent to Registrar for displaying the same on the website. In case the number of applications are more than the notified vacancies the membership shall be finalized through draw of lot in the presence of authorized representative of the Registrar Further if vacancy has arisen due to resignation of a member, then the resignation shall be made public by publishing in leading newspapers and the Registrar shall be informed of the same before publishing it alongwith the copy of the same and proof of payment of the share moneyand contribution etc.whichshallbemadethrough cheque.”

6. In view of the objection raised by the RCS, the Society did not proceed further. However, it is relevant to highlight that the Society did not refund the amount to the Petitioner as well.

7. Accordingly,when the concerned flat wasnot allottedto the Petitioner, the Petitioner filed a claim for arbitration under Section 70 of the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act, 2003 (hereinafter “DCS Act”) which was referred to a Sole Arbitrator. The Sole Arbitrator vide Award dated 6^th March, 2017 in Arb. Case No. 95/GH/DR/ARB/2013-14 held as under: “(i) The then President of Respondent Society had been takencourseofactionoffillinguponevacancyofsociety leftoutonlyafterauthorisedbytheManagingCommittee in its meeting on 11.5.2013. The President of the Respondant Society was present at the time of draw and shown the resolution declaring him fully authorised by the Managing Comm