India, Sept. 22 -- The Bombay High Court on Saturday held that the registrar of co-operative societies cannot refuse to exercise its jurisdiction by claiming that a matter is 'too complicated'. The court was hearing a plea by a city-based housing society which had tried to recover maintenance dues dating back to 1982 from defaulting members.

The case first arose when Saraf Kaskar Industrial Premises Co-operative Society Ltd approached the deputy registrar trying to recover maintenance dues from its members. The deputy registrar however rejected the society's application and said that matter involved "complicated questions of law" and advised the society to instead follow up the case before the co-operative court and go through a full-fle...