The state consumer disputes redressal commission set aside a district consumer disputes redressal forum order that directed Mhada to transfer the title deed in favour of a complainant.
“In case of a cooperative housing society, title is always conveyed to the society and not to the individual members of the society. Thus, the impugned order directing Mhada to transfer the title deed in favour of the complainant, per se, would not sustain in the eyes of law,” ruled the commission.
According to complainant Madhukar Omkar Tarhale, while in government service as a sales tax officer, he was allotted a tenement at Goregaon (west). The tenements were constructed by Mhada, but given to the state government in 1962 for allotment to its employees as government accommodation.
The tenement’s cost was `36,150. According to the complainant, he had paid the amount as per a receipt dated August 12, 1993. He, however, made a grievance that the department thereafter didn’t pay him the house rent allowance paid to others. He also made a grievance about the society not being formed and transfer of title deed to him. He filed a consumer complaint on December 9, 1996.
Mhada, however, brought it on record that on January 1, 2001, the complainant had sold his tenement for `4 lakh. The commission observed that he then ceased to be a consumer and as such the consumer complaint, when it was decided, ceased to be a consumer dispute.