The direction is in a Government Resolution of the Cooperation Department dated September 30, 2026 (No. Saguyo-2026/Pra.Kra.108/14-S). It is issued under Section 79A of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, in the wider public interest. It supersedes the Government Resolution of July 4, 2019, and all circulars issued under that resolution. The order is on www.maharashtra.gov.in, digital code 202609301657141847, and is digitally signed by Desk Officer Pravin Talekar.

Why the 2019 procedure was rewritten

The preamble says redevelopment of cooperative housing society buildings is under way on a large scale, and that complaints from societies, housing federations and individual members keep reaching the government and field offices. It lists the complaints as these:

• Decisions taken one-sidedly, without taking members into confidence.
• No transparency in the tender.
• The managing committee or office-bearers appointing the developer or contractor in an arbitrary manner.
• Members not being given information and papers on redevelopment, and not being told of the stages after the process starts.
• No coordination in the work of the architect and the project consultant.
• No planning through a project report.
• No proper procedure for finalising the tender.
• Redevelopment being run on a consent whose term has expired, or which was not obtained by the prescribed method.
• No transparent method while allotting flats or galas.
• New flat holders finding it difficult to get membership after redevelopment.

The 2019 resolution had laid down a procedure under Section 79A. The new order says complaints, and decisions of the Bombay High Court from time to time, made changes necessary so that the process has system, transparency, member participation and protection of members’ wider interest.

When a society can decide, and who can decide

A society may decide, in a general meeting, to redevelop its building if a competent authority has declared the building dilapidated, or on the verge of collapse, or dangerous to live in, or dangerous to pass by, or dangerous to any neighbouring structure or place, and if the building is eligible for redevelopment under the development control rules.

The order covers every route a society may take: redevelopment through an agreement with a developer, self-redevelopment, cluster redevelopment through a federal society, and redevelopment through a group of societies. The procedure fixed for appointing a developer also applies to appointing a contractor for self-redevelopment, and to development under an agreement.

The decision can be taken only by a managing committee elected under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies (Election to Committee) Rules and constituted as per law. It cannot be taken by an authorised officer, administrator, or authorised officer board appointed by the Registrar.

How the special general meeting is called

Not less than one-fifth of the members must apply to the secretary of the elected managing committee, with their plan and suggestions, asking for a special general meeting to settle the policy on redevelopment. Within eight days of the application, the managing committee must record it in its meeting. Within two months, the secretary must call a special general meeting of all members. The agenda must be given to every member 14 days in advance, and proof of service kept in the society’s records.

Before calling the meeting, the managing committee must take quotations from three architects for a project report. Those architects must be registered with the Council of Architecture under the Architects Act, 1972, and must be on the panel of the government or a local authority as project management consultants. One expert is to be selected in the special general meeting.

Members may give written suggestions, recommendations and proposals on the redevelopment to the committee, at least eight days before the meeting.

Quorum, the 51 percent rule, and video conference

Quorum for this meeting is two-thirds of the total members. If quorum is not there, the meeting is adjourned and recalled within one month on seven days’ notice. If quorum fails again, it will be taken that members have no interest in redevelopment. The meeting will be cancelled, and the subject cannot be brought before a special general meeting again for three months.

The primary decision, on whether to redevelop or not, needs the approval of not less than 51 percent of the total members. The order’s own example: in a society of 100 members, the two-thirds quorum is 66.66, that is 67. Approval of 51 or more members is required. If 67 members are present, in person and by video conference, at least 51 of them must approve. If 75 are present, the requirement is still 51 or more of the total membership, not a majority of those in the hall.

Members who are abroad, bedridden by illness, disabled, or unable to attend for unavoidable reasons may attend by video conference. That attendance counts for the two-thirds quorum and for the 51 percent. Even so, 51 percent of the total members must be physically present. Any fraction is to be rounded up to the next whole number.

After the decision to redevelop, the meeting will select the architect or project management consultant from the government or local-authority panel and fix the terms, receive the outline of the process, and consider suggestions, recommendations and objections of all members. Every opinion stated in the meeting is to be recorded in the minutes with the member’s name. Consent, vote or opinion of any absent member, written, oral or in any other form, will not be considered.

Written consent, then the consultant’s brief

Once the resolution is passed by not less than 51 percent, the managing committee must take written consent letters from the members who voted for the resolution, before it does the next steps.

Within 30 days of the meeting, the secretary must issue the appointment letter to the selected architect or project management consultant, and the committee must sign a written agreement on the terms approved by the general meeting.

Within two months of appointment, the consultant must survey the building and land, collect title information, and, under the policy then in force and according to ownership of the land, work out the FSI and TDR available under the rules of MHADA, CIDCO, SRA, MMRDA, the municipal corporation or the municipal council, as applicable. The society must do the related paperwork.

The project report must factor in members’ suggestions, the residential area, commercial area, open space, garden and parking to be given to members, and construction specifications. Separate project reports, and a comparative chart, are required for the benefits under the different schemes in the sanctioned Development Control and Promotion Regulations or Unified DCPR.

Approving the report and floating the tender

Within 30 days of receiving the report, the secretary must call a managing committee meeting and invite the consultant. Suggestions are to be considered and the report approved by majority. Notice of the meeting, with time and place, is to be put on the notice board. Every member is to be told that the report can be seen in the society office, and that suggestions must be filed at least seven days before the committee meeting. Proof of service is to be kept. Suggestions received are to be sent to the consultant.

In that meeting the committee will discuss the suggestions and the consultant’s views, make necessary changes, and approve the report by majority. It will also prepare the tender draft, discuss it, and fix the date, time and place of the next special general meeting to finalise the draft.

While preparing the draft, the consultant must keep one item variable so that experienced developers file competitive bids: either carpet area or corpus fund. Other technical terms are to be fixed. The draft needs majority approval in the special general meeting. Only then is the tender notice published in widely circulated local Marathi and English newspapers. Members may also inform experienced developers known to them and ask them to bid.

At least three bids

On the last day for bids, the secretary will put the list of bids received on the notice board, and call a special general meeting within 30 days. Bidders or their authorised representatives cannot be refused entry. Bids will be opened in front of everyone present. The consultant will photocopy every bid, prepare a comparative chart, and check quality, reputation, experience and the competitive rate.

At least three bids are necessary for the tender to be competitive. If fewer than three are received, an extension of at least 15 days is to be given, and if still short, a second extension of one week. If even then there are fewer than three, however many bids have come in will be cleared for the special general meeting. If revised bids are to be called, the society must follow the same steps.

Registrar’s officer must sit in the selection meeting

The developer is to be chosen in a special general meeting, on experience, quality, financial capacity, technical capacity and competitive rate. This meeting is compulsory in the presence of a representative of the Registrar.

The managing committee, with the consultant’s help, must send the Registrar the minutes of the earlier special general meetings, the member list, the project report, details of all bids and the comparative chart, and ask for an authorised officer. The Registrar must decide on appointing that officer within 14 days.

Within one month of the appointment, the secretary must call the meeting. The agenda and the comparative chart must reach every member 14 days earlier, by hand delivery, registered post or email, with acknowledgment kept on record. The authorised officer must verify this.

Quorum is again two-thirds of the total members. Video conference counts for quorum and for the 51 percent, but 51 percent must be physically present. The society must appoint a service provider for the video conference. The authorised officer must confirm attendance and quorum. If quorum fails, the meeting is adjourned and recalled within one month on seven days’ notice. A second failure cancels the meeting, and the subject cannot return for three months.

Only members may attend. A representative of a member cannot be sent. Each member must carry a valid identity proof. Before the meeting, the authorised officer will verify identity from the member register, the share certificate and the identity proof, and will confirm that only authorised representatives of the developers whose bids are being placed are present. The society must arrange video recording at its own cost.

The secretary or the consultant will place the comparative details. Selection of one developer, with terms, and finalisation of the tender, needs the approval of not less than 51 percent of the total members. Members who want to speak or record an objection must be given a chance.

Voting is by show of hands. If at least one-fifth of the total members ask in writing, the authorised officer must hold a secret ballot, including for members on video conference, through the service provider. The society bears that cost. Written approval of not less than 51 percent of the total members present, in person and by video conference, is required. Consent of absent members, in any form, will not be counted. If the selected developer or representative is not present, consent will be assumed and the next steps taken.

One copy of the recording stays with the secretary and one with the Registrar. Within 14 days, the chairman or secretary must file the minutes, written approvals, the developer’s consent and the attendance sheet. The authorised officer must file a report and the video CD or pen drive. The Registrar will enter the appointment in the redevelopment register and write to the society, and to the planning authority, municipal corporation or municipal council, that the appointment is as per the government order.

Papers members can ask for

For transparency, notices, minutes, the video CD or pen drive of the general meeting, the consultant’s report, the tender draft, the bids, the comparative chart and the draft development agreement must be available to members for inspection free of cost. If a member asks for copies, the secretary must give them immediately on payment of the prescribed fee. Notices and minutes of the managing committee and of special general meetings must be sent to the Registrar within 14 days of the meeting, and acknowledgments preserved.

What the development agreement must contain

Within three months, and within the terms approved by the general meeting and the consultant’s guidance, the managing committee must sign the agreement with the developer or contractor. Along with other points suggested by the consultant, the agreement must include these:

1. From the date of the plinth or foundation certificate, the period for completing the project shall not exceed two years, and an extension in exceptional circumstances shall not exceed three years, according to the size of the project.
2. The general body will decide, by its approval, how much of the total project cost the developer must give as a bank guarantee, and in what form.
3. During the redevelopment period, the developer will, as far as possible, give alternative accommodation in the same area until the project is complete, or pay mental rent (compensation rent) and a deposit acceptable to the members, or give transit camps.
4. The development agreement with the society, and the Permanent Alternative Accommodation Agreement with each member, will be registered under the Registration Act, 1908. The individual agreement will be signed within three months of registration of the development agreement.
5. After the project is complete, or possession of the flat is given, the committee must decide membership applications of new flat or gala holders within three months, and issue membership and the share certificate.
6. The carpet area payable under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, must be clearly stated.
7. Development rights given to the developer are non-transferable.
8. Members will vacate only after all legal approvals, and only after the individual Permanent Alternative Accommodation Agreement is registered. Rights of those in possession of the flats remain intact until then.
9. The agreement must say that any dispute will go to the competent court or authority under the law then in force.
10. Allotment of flats in the new building will be in a special general meeting, with at least 14 days’ notice to every member, and by not less than 51 percent of the total members present. As far as possible, allotment will follow the existing floor. If a lottery is necessary, the developer will hold it after the building is complete. The meeting must be video-recorded. Minutes, the recording and the certified allotment list go to the Registrar within one month.
11. No committee member or office-bearer of the society shall be the developer, or a relative of the developer.
12. Building plans approved by the municipal corporation or the competent authority are to be placed before the general meeting for information. A member who wants a copy must apply in writing. The committee must supply it on a proper fee.

Cluster redevelopment through a federation

A cooperative housing federation that holds title to the buildings and common areas of its affiliated societies may carry out cluster redevelopment.

Quorum for the federation’s special general meeting is two-thirds of the affiliated member-societies. After quorum, the primary decision needs the approval of not less than 51 percent of the total affiliated societies.

Before the work starts, each affiliated society must pass its own resolution in a special general meeting, with a quorum of two-thirds of its members and the approval of not less than 51 percent of its total members, in person and by video conference, and must file the resolution and the written consents of all members who voted for it with the federation. Alternatively, not less than 60 percent of the total members of all affiliated societies together must vote for the resolution, and each society must still file its resolution and the written consents. After that primary decision, the later steps follow points 9 to 13 of this order.

What happens if the order is breached

The order says its object is transparency in appointment of the project management consultant, the project report, the tender, appointment of the developer and the development agreement, so that members’ interest is not harmed.

If the order is violated, or if collusion, misappropriation, or an act harming members’ interest is found in the redevelopment, the responsible office-bearer or committee member “shall be liable to action” under Section 79A(3) or Section 78A of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960. The GR itself does not set a fine or a jail term. It points to these two sections.

Section 79A is the government’s power to issue directions in the public interest. Sub-section (3) applies where the Registrar is satisfied that a person responsible for complying with such directions has failed, without good reason or justification. If that person is a committee member, the Registrar may declare him disqualified from being, or continuing as, a member of the committee of any society for six years from the date of the order. If the person is an employee, the Registrar may direct the committee to remove him from employment forthwith, and committee members who without justification fail to carry out that direction may themselves be disqualified for six years. Before the order, the Registrar must give a hearing and consult the federal society, which has 45 days to reply. If it does not, it is presumed to have no objection. An order under this section is final.

Section 78A is the power to supersede a committee or remove a member. The Registrar may use it if, in his opinion, the committee or a member has done an act prejudicial to the interest of the society or its members, or has refused or ceased to discharge functions so that the society’s business has come, or is likely to come, to a standstill, or if serious financial irregularities or frauds have been identified, or there are judicial directives, or a perpetual lack of quorum, or a member stands disqualified. After a written objection and a hearing, the Registrar may supersede the committee and appoint a committee of three or more members of the society, other than those superseded, or an administrator or a committee of administrators, for a period not exceeding six months. He may instead remove the member. A member so removed is not eligible to be re-elected, re-co-opted or re-nominated on the committee of any society until the next full term of the committee has expired.

Both sections leave the action to the Registrar, after a hearing. The GR makes office-bearers and committee members liable to be proceeded against under them. It does not itself dissolve a committee.

Also Read: Don’t Split Redevelopment Fight: Bombay HC Sends Members to Civil Court

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