Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court · A.O. 31 of 2020 · 09.02.2021
A tenant can use the parking slot allotted to the member
The Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court restrained a society from stopping a member’s leave-and-licence occupant from using the open parking slot allotted to the member, pending the dispute, and directed inspection and copies of records under Section 32.
Key points
- A licensee is entitled to enjoy the facilities and amenities attached to the flat, including the parking slot allotted to the member, during the licence period.
- Letting the licensee use the slot is not a transfer of the member’s parking right; the society was restrained from preventing it pending the dispute.
- A member’s right to inspect records and obtain copies is under Section 32 and must be exercised in that manner; the society was directed to comply.
The facts
A retired Army officer had owned a flat in New Miramar CHS on Napean Sea Road since 2006 and was allotted an open parking slot. His tenants, his daughter and he himself had used the slot over the years. Under a parking policy adopted at its 2014 AGM, the society objected to his new licensee using the slot, while allowing her to park on payment of daily charges. He filed a dispute challenging the policy and seeking an injunction, inspection of parking records and disclosure of members with multiple slots. The Co-operative Court rejected interim relief.
What the Court held
The Appellate Court partly allowed the appeal. The member was not asking for a new allotment, only that his licensee be allowed to use the slot already allotted to him. The licence agreement expressly gave the licensee use of the parking space, and the society had raised no objection to that term and had in fact let her park on daily charges. The trial court had wrongly treated this as a transfer of the parking right. Whether the society was following Bye-laws 79 to 84 and whether its penalty was lawful were matters for trial. On records, the member had a statutory right under Section 32 to inspect and to obtain copies on payment, but could not ask the court to order disclosures on affidavit beyond that. The society was restrained from preventing the member and his licensee from using the slot, directed to give inspection and certified copies under Section 32, and the Co-operative Court was asked to decide the dispute within about eight months.
Why it matters
Parking disputes involving tenants are common. This interim order supports the view that a licensee steps into the member’s shoes for the use of amenities attached to the flat, including an allotted parking slot, subject to the bye-laws and lawful charges. Bye-law provisions on parking (in the model bye-laws, Bye-laws 79 to 84) remain the reference point.
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