- (1.) The Zoroastrian Co-operative Housing Society is a Society registered on 19-5-1926, under the Bombay Co-operative Societies Act, 1925. The Society applied to the Government of Bombay for acquisition of certain lands in Ahmedabad District, then in the State of Bombay, under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for the purpose of erecting houses for residential use of its members and to further the aims and objects of the Society. On the Government of Bombay agreeing to the proposal, the Society entered into an agreement on 17-2-1928 with the Government under Sec. 41 of the Land Acquisition Act. Certain lands were acquired. From the lands thus acquired at its cost and given to it, the Society allotted plots of land to the various members of the Society in furtherance of the objects of the Society. On the re-organization of States, the Society became functional in the State of Gujarat and came within the purview of the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961. Section 169 of the Act, repealed the Bombay Co-operative Societies Act, 1925 and in sub-sec. (2) provided that all Societies registered or deemed to be registered under the Bombay Act, the registration of which was in force immediately before the commencement of the Gujarat Act, were to be deemed to be registered under the Gujarat Act. The Gujarat Act came into force on 1-5-1962. Thus, the Society came to be regulated by the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').
(2.) On the scheme of the Bombay Co-operative Societies Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Bombay Act'), the Society had applied for registration in terms of Sec. 9 of the Act. The application was accompanied by the proposed bye-laws of the Society. The Registrar of Co-operative Societies, on being satisfied that the Society had complied with the provisions of the Act and the Rules and that the proposed bye-laws were not contrary to the Act and the Rules, granted registration to the Society and its bye-laws and issued a certificate of registration in terms of Sec. 11 of the Act. As per the bye-laws, the objects of the Society were to carry on the trade of building, and of buying, selling, hiring, letting and developing land in accordance with Co-operative principles and to establish and carry on social, recreative and educational work in connection with its tenets and the Society was to have full power to do all things it deemed necessary or expedient, for the accomplishment of all objects specified in is bye-laws, including the power to purchase, hold, sell, exchange, mortgage, rent, lease, sub-lease, surrender, accept surrenders of and deal with lands of any tenure and to sell by instalments and subject to any terms or conditions and to make and guarantee advances to members for building or purchasing property and to erect, pull down, repair, alter or otherwise deal with any building thereon. All persons who had signed the application for registration, are original members by virtue of bye-law No. 7. The said bye-law further provided that other members shall be elected by the Committee of the Society, provided that all members shall belong to the Parsi community subject to satisfying other conditions in that bye-law. Bye-law No. 21 provided for sale of a share held by a member, but with previous sanction of the Committee which had full discretion in granting or withholding such sanction. It was also provided that until the transfer of a share is registered, no right was acquired against the Society by the transferee, and no claim against the transferor by the Society was also to be affected. In short, the qualification for becoming a member in the Society was that the person should be a Parsi and that the transfer of a share to him had to have the previous sanction of the Committee of the Society.
(3.) Some of the relevant provisions of the Bombay Act may now be noticed. Under Sec. 3, the Registrar had the right to classify all Societies under one or other of the heads referred to in that Section. Under Sec. 5 of that Act, a Society which had as its object, the promotion of economic interests of its members in accordance with economic principles, may be registered under the Act with or without limited liability. Section 6 placed restrictions on the interests of the members of the Society with limited liability. Section 6A enacted that no person shall be admitted as a member of a Society unless he was a person competent to contract under Sec. 11 of the Contract Act. Section 7 stipulated the conditions for registration and provided that no Society could be registered under the Act which did not consist of at least 10 persons who were qualified to be members of the Society under Sec. 6A and where the object of the Society was the creation of funds to be lent to its members, unless all persons forming the Society resided in the same town or village or in the group of villages or they belonged to the same tribe, class or occupation, unless the Registrar ordered otherwise and no persons could be admitted to membership of any such Society after its registration unless the persons fulfilled that two requirements as mentioned above. If the Registrar was satisfied that a Society has complied with the provisions of the Act and the Rules, and that its proposed bye-laws are not contrary to the Act or to the Rules, under Sec. 10, he was to register the Society and its bye-laws. According to the Society, it had submitted its duly filled in application under Sec. 9 of the Act accompanied by its bye-laws and the said bye-laws have been approved and registered by the Registrar on being satisfied that the proposed bye-laws were not contrary to the Act or to the Rules.;