- (1.) This order shall dispose of two Civil Writ Petitions i.e. Civil Writ Petition No. 6803 of 2011 (Kanwaljit Singh Chatrath and others v. State of Haryana and others) and CWP No. 9062 of 2011 (Deshbir Singh and others v. State of Haryana and others). The facts are being taken from Civil Writ Petition No. 6803 of 2011. Petitioners are owners in possession of flats which are constructed by Haryana Officers Cooperative Group Housing Society Limited (Shikhar Apartments) GH-2, Sector 5, Mansa Devi Complex, Panchkula (for short the 'Society'). The petitioners acquired the membership of the Society after paying money towards the admission fee as well as the share capital. As per the Bye Laws of the Society, a member is required to hold at least one share in the Society. The share capital by the Society is raised by the members and the value of one share being Rs. 100/-.
(2.) While admitting the petitioners as members, in addition to the admission fee and contribution towards share capital, Society charged Rs. 1,00,000/- under the garb of 'Transfer Fee'. The petitioners paid the amount on different dates between the years 2001 to 2007. The petitioners have now approached with the grievance that under the Haryana Cooperative Societies Act and the rules framed thereunder the transfer fee could not have been charged from the members i.e. the petitioners.
(3.) The members filed representation to seek refund of the amount so charged. When the refund was not made, petitioners filed petitions under Section 102 read with Section 103 of the Haryana Cooperative Societies Act. These petitions were clubbed together and were disposed of through a common order dated 15.05.2008. The order passed is annexed with the petition as Annexure P-1. The Registrar Cooperative Societies has held that charging of Rs. 1,00,000/- as transfer fee is a bad practice and clear violation of Model Bye Laws No. 30 and 54 which were duly approved by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Haryana. The charging of this fee has been termed as illegal and contrary to the bye-laws and, accordingly, found unjustified.;