MUMBAI, 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 after the housing society opposed their plan to convert the residential premises into a commercial establishment. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also required the society's NOC to approve the proposed change from residential to commercial use. The society challenged the deputy registrar's decision in the high court after the divisional joint registrar upheld it on January 15, 2018. It argued that the deputy registrar had not cited any provision of law that empowered him to issue such an NOC and, in any case, had no authority to do so. Accepting the society's argument, Justice Marne observed that the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act (MCS Act) does not provide for the deputy registrar to issue an NOC for changing the use of a flat from residential to commercial. "The provisions of the MCS Act do not contemplate issuance of an NOC by the deputy registrar for a change in the use of the premises," the court said. The judge also drew a distinction between directing a housing society to issue an NOC and issuing one on its behalf, pointing out that the deputy registrar had no authority to do the latter. "The deputy registrar does not have jurisdiction to either himself issue NOC or even to direct the society to issue NOC for change of user," the court said. However, the court clarified that the legality of the society's decision to refuse permission could be challenged before the cooperative court. The deputy registrar, it said, could not be used as a means to obtain an NOC by bypassing the society....