Bombay High Court
LT. COL. VIJAY KUMAR GAUTAMversusOLYMPIC TOWER CO OP HSG. SOC LTD. AND ORS
- Decided
- Disposal
- Disposed Off
Holding
The High Court held that it will not issue a mandamus to the Co‑operative Court for expeditious disposal of the pending disputes.
Summary
Lt. Col Vijay Kumar Gautam (retd) filed a writ petition seeking the High Court to direct the Co-operative Court, Mumbai, to dispose of thirteen disputes he had filed between 2019 and 2023 within three months. The petitioner alleged grievances regarding his membership in Olympic Tower Co‑op. Housing Society Ltd. and attached a list of the pending disputes. The Court observed that the petition did not disclose the specific reliefs sought in each dispute nor the stage of the proceedings, rendering it inappropriate to issue a mandamus for a time‑bound decision. While noting that a Co‑operative Court is generally obliged to decide matters expeditiously unless impeded by law, the Court declined to intervene. Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed.
Issues considered
- Whether the High Court can issue a mandamus directing a Co‑operative Court to dispose of pending disputes within a specified time‑frame
- Whether the petitioner has sufficiently disclosed the nature of reliefs and the stage of proceedings to justify such intervention
Subjects
- mandamus
- co-operative court
- expeditious disposal
- writ petition
- civil appellate jurisdiction
- jurisdiction
- co-operative societies
Judgment
NISHA Digitally signed by
NISHA SANDEEP
SANDEEP CHITNIS
Date: 2026.09.16
CHITNIS 14:06:46 +0530
5-wp.9374.2023.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION NO.9374 OF 2023
Lt. Col Vijay Kumar Gautam (retd) ...Petitioner
Versus
Olympic Tower Co-op. Housing
Society Ltd. and Ors. ...Respondents
Mr. Soosainavis Xavier Fernando for the Petitioner.
Ms. Bhavyaa Thakur for the Respondent Nos.1 and 2 (through video-
conferencing).
Mr. Karan S. Thorat, ‘B’ Panel Counsel with Mr. S. L. Babar, A.G.P.
for the Respondent Nos.3 to 5-State.
CORAM: BHARATI DANGRE &
ASHISH S. CHAVAN, JJ.
DATE : 10th SEPTEMBER 2026
P.C. :
1. The petition seeks a relief of expeditious disposal of the
disputes filed by the petitioner and pending before the Co-operative
Court, Mumbai. The petitioner has some grievance with regard to his
membership in Olympic Tower Co-op. Housing Society Limited and
has furnished a list of the disputes filed by him. A perusal of the said
list at Exhibit “F”, at page 72, makes reference to 13 disputes filed in
the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
N. S. Chitnis 1/2
5-wp.9374.2023.doc
We are really unaware as to what reliefs are sought in the
said disputes and at what stage the proceedings are pending before the
Co-operative Court. In the circumstances, we do not deem it
appropriate to issue any mandamus to the Co-operative Court to
decide the said disputes in a time-bound manner, as prayed for by the
petitioner, within a period of three months.
Nonetheless, we must observe that once a dispute is filed
before the Co-operative Court, it is under an obligation to decide the
same expeditiously, unless there are legal impediments to its final
disposal.
With the aforesaid observations, we dismiss the writ
petition.
ASHISH S. CHAVAN, J. BHARATI DANGRE, J.
N. S. Chitnis 2/2
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