India, Nov. 3 -- The Bombay High Court has ruled that a deputy registrar of cooperative societies cannot issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) allowing a residential flat to be used for commercial purposes, or direct a housing society to grant such permission. The court said the official had no legal authority to take either step.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep Marne, on Friday, struck down an NOC issued by the deputy registrar of cooperative societies, M-West Ward, on December 8, 2016. The NOC had stated that his office had no objection to the owners of a ground-floor flat in Surya Lok Co-operative Housing Society in Khar West using their premises for commercial purposes.

The flat owners had approached the deputy registrar af...