India, Feb. 27 -- In a significant ruling for homebuyers, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said that private commercial arrangements between promoters cannot take away or reduce the legal rights of flat purchasers under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA).

A single-judge bench of justice Amit Borkar dismissed three petitions, including one filed by industrialist Nusli Wadia, challenging an order that granted "deemed conveyance" of land to a commercial co-operative society at Raheja Metroplex in Malad West.

Deemed conveyance is the legal process where a housing society obtains ownership title of land and building from a developer/builder who has failed to execute a formal conveyance deed.

The dispute concerned 19,702 square metre...