In a writ petition filed before the Delhi High Court to challenge an order dated 31-07-2026 by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies (RCS) whereby an Administrator had been appointed in the Anand Lok Co-operative Group Housing Society Ltd. (Society) under Section 35(5) of the Delhi Co-operative Societies Act, 2003 (Act), a Division Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan clarified that the newly appointed Managing Committee would run the affairs of the Society and that there would be no interference in the same while also calling for the entire record of the elections.
Earlier, another writ petition was filed before this Court to challenge a previous order dated 18-05-2026 by the RCS, whereby an Administrator had been appointed. In that petition, there was a dispute raised by one individual member of the Society due to which the RCS had superseded the Managing Committee. By an order dated 26-05-2026, the Administrator’s appointment was stayed and the process of elections to the Managing Committee were directed to be continued as per law.
The said elections were scheduled for 02-08-2026, i.e. Sunday and surprisingly on 31-07-2026, the impugned order was passed to appoint an Administrator on grounds that the Managing Committee’s term had come to an end. The Court opined that when this Court had stayed the earlier order of the RCS, and when the RCS knew that elections were scheduled even then superseding the Managing Committee in this manner was a clear overreach by the RCS. It was stated that the RCS should either have taken permission of this Court or should have simply appointed an Observer for the elections. The Court said that power of the Administrator should not have been vested in any particular officer, that too, only for two days.
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The Court noticed that in several matters, the RCS appoints Administrators on a regular basis and supersedes the Managing Committees, sometimes even on suspicious grounds. It was said that the repeated appointment of an Administrator in this manner for the Society, raised doubts. The Court noted that the Society’s elections had been conducted and that the Managing Committee had been elected. It was clarified that the affairs of the Society would now be run by the elected Managing Committee, and that there must not be any interference in the same.
Further, the Court directed the official concerned, who had passed by impugned order by the RCS, to be present in Court on the next date of hearing. The Court directed the entire record of the Managing Committee elections to be preserved and filed before the Court before the next date of hearing.
The matter has now been listed on 24-08-2026.
