Lawyers react; say a ‘Society’ can’t tell members what to eat

Society Rules

Reacting sharply to an incident in Dahisar, where the members of a co-operative housing society purportedly manhandled a family for eating meat, the legal fraternity said that there is no lawful provision that allows majority members in a housing society to enforce their food habits on others.

“A co-operative housing society cannot frame bye-laws contrary to the constitutional mandate and the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act,” said Advocate Uday Warunjikar adding that there is no legal provision that empowers a society to restrain any member from eating non-vegetarian food in his flat, and hence, the action of the [Dahisar housing society] members is indefensible.

Speaking in support of the victims, Advocate Vijay Kulkarni who handles matters pertaining to housing societies said, “A society is formed for serving administrative purposes, not to regulate the eating habits of individual members.”

“The society can make laws to control activities conducted in public, or on its premises considering factors such as hygiene or cleanliness, but not inside the house unless they are illegal,” responded another lawyer, Uday Wavikar.