Mumbai, Aug. 24 -- The Bombay High Court on August 14 ruled that non-plot owners are ineligible to vote and contest in a housing society's election. A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep V. Marne rejected an appeal, filed by Brenden D'Silva against the Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies, H West, and St. Sebastian Homes Co-operative Society under Section 152 (A) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. The court emphasised the legislative intent behind this provision, noting that allowing non-owners like D'Silva to participate in managing the society's affairs would undermine the principle of collective property management. Significantly, the ruling came on the same day the elections of the St. Sebastian Homes Co-operative Society were held. The society, eventually, did not allow non-plot owners to vote. On May 26, HT reported plans to conduct elections at Bandra's St. Sebastian Homes CHS following a prolonged legal battle. The society has 119 plots under its purview. The dispute arose after the society excluded D'Silva's name from final voter list and rejected his election nomination, although the names of non-plot owners were mentioned in the provisional list. The petitioner was one of 37 members, who did not hold any plot within the society. but were admitted to the society prior to a legislative amendment which limits membership strictly to plot owners or organisations representing flat purchasers. Despite the petitioner's argument that the amendment should apply prospectively, the court found it unnecessary to decide on the retrospective application. It focused on the petitioner's right to contest elections, concluding that only members owning property within the society should participate in the decision making processes. The court rejected the writ petition with the legal position that CHS elections must be confined to bonafide plot or flat owners in accordance with the amended statutory provisions. The society was represented by advocates S. Parthasarthy and Darshana Manjrekar....