Rose Villa Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. v. District Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies Mumbai City (3) & Ors., Writ Petition No. 17527 of 2024, Bombay High Court (Justice Sandeep V. Marne), decided on 06.10.2026 | Citation: 2026:BHC-AS:40590
A developer’s insolvency does not stop the Competent Authority from granting deemed conveyance to a society, because once the flats are sold the land and building are no longer the developer’s asset under the moratorium. Blanket consents from flat buyers for future additional construction, given without disclosing the plans, are not valid consent under Section 7 of MOFA, and the Competent Authority can look prima facie at whether such consent exists. Extra development potential that becomes available after the building is complete and occupied belongs to the society, not the developer.
The Bombay High Court has ordered deemed conveyance of the land and building of a completed Andheri (West) housing society, rejecting the developer’s claim that it could still add two floors and that its insolvency blocked the transfer.
Can Enterprises rebuilt “Rose Villa” as a six-floor building and got its occupation certificate in 2016. It then sold 23 of the 24 flats but never formed a society or transferred the land. It fought the society’s registration all the way to the High Court, which finally registered it in November 2022. Meanwhile, the developer went into insolvency proceedings in January 2020, and in 2020 it also got approval to add the 7th and 8th floors under the newer development rules. When the society applied for deemed conveyance in 2024, the Competent Authority rejected it because of the insolvency and the developer’s right to build more floors. Justice Sandeep V. Marne set aside this order on both counts. On insolvency, he followed the recent Darshan Mandir ruling and the Supreme Court’s A.A. Estates ruling. Once the flats are sold, the developer loses title to the land, so it is no longer his “asset” protected by the moratorium. The developer also cannot rely on the insolvency, since it is his own failure to form a society and convey the land that caused the delay. On the extra floors, the court found that the “NOCs” signed by flat buyers were blanket consents that did not disclose any details of the additional construction. Most were signed before any plan for extra floors was even approved, sometimes on the day of the sale agreement, and the flat agreements showed only a six-floor building. The court said the developer had sold flats just before the new rules came into force and then tried to benefit from the extra floor space. It held that additional FSI arising after the occupation certificate belongs to the society, and told the developer it was “time to exit the site.” The court sent the case back to the Competent Authority to issue the deemed conveyance certificate, preferably within three months, with parties to appear on 12 October 2026.