No penalty, court grants senior citizen parking relief
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Before you continue reading How financially free are you? Most people overestimate their financial freedom. Discover your Financial Freedom score through a quick survey Calculate My Score How Mrs. Deepali Dilip Bhube won the case (i) Failure to Comply with Statutory Bye-Law Procedures for Penalties (ii) Documented evidence of inaccessible allotment & structural discrepancies (iii) Rejection of the Society's "Ignorance / Internal Administrative Lapse" Defence Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court order Housing society said it was unaware of any legal proceedings initiated by her Society did not place any evidence about following model bye-laws Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court judgement When Mrs. Deepali Dilip Bhube from Naigaon, Dadar bought a flat in 2011, the builder allotted her a car parking space at Level P1-19. However, she was not happy with this spot and expressed her concern with the builder, who reassured her that the parking slot was temporary and suggested she discuss it with the housing society.However, the issue was not resolved and became more aggravated instead. Starting 2014, it became very difficult for her to park her car since her designated parking spot in P-1-19 was squeezed between two other parking slots. She had to wait for the other vehicles to be moved from both the front as well as the back of her space just to park her car. She once again brought the issue to the housing society's attention, but they failed to take action, leading her to park her car in the open space of the housing complex.This decision to park her car in the open space did not sit well with the housing society and they penalised her by charging a fine of Rs 200 per day for parking her car in the open space.
On January 28, 2025, the housing society sent her a letter saying that she was penalised Rs 1,800 for 9 days of parking in the open space at the rate of Rs 200 per day/night.Upset with the fine, she quickly approached the court, seeking an interim order to stop the society from imposing those penalties and for resolving her parking issue.The court issued an interim order granting her appeal and asked the Society to stop the penal charges and to give her a convenient parking slot within 15 days. The Society then appealed to the Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court, Mumbai.In front of the court, she submitted an Architect's report which prima facie confirmed that her parking slot had become sandwiched and had become unusable due to unauthorised additions.On July 18, 2026, Justice Dr. Srishty Neelkanth of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Appellate Court, Mumbai ruled in Mrs. Deepali Dilip Bhube's favour.Keep reading to know how Mrs. Deepali Dilip Bhube won the case.Sadhav Mishra, Senior Partner and Head of Real Estate, SNG & Partners, Advocates & Solicitors, said to ET Wealth Online: The homebuyer (Mrs. Deepali Dilip Bhube) produced extensive written complaints showing her parking slot (P-1-19) was "sandwiched" between two other vehicles, forcing her to rely on the removal of cars in front and behind hers to move her vehicle. She (homebuyer) submitted an Architect’s Report, which confirmed that her parking slot was sandwiched and had rendered unusable due to unauthorized additions. This established a strong prima facie case of physical hardship.Mishra explains the grounds basis which the society lost are as under:Under Model Bye-law 165(a) of the Co-operative Housing Society bye-laws, penalties levied on members cannot exceed?5,000 in a financial year. Crucially, imposing such a penalty requires prior notice to the defaulting member and an explicit resolution passed in the General Body meeting.The society unilaterally imposed an exorbitant penalty of Rs 200 per day (demanding Rs 1,800 for just 9 days) for open parking.
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