MUMBAI, June 11 -- The Bombay high court on Monday struck down the disqualification of the management committee of a co-operative housing society in Bandra West for six years and the appointment of an advocate as an administrator, noting that it was done illegally and amounted to misuse of power. A single-judge bench of justice Amit Borkar also directed the principal secretary of the cooperation department to appoint a senior officer to conduct a comprehensive and impartial inquiry into the role and conduct of the deputy registrar and submit a report to the court in eight weeks. The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by six members of the managing committee of the Bandra Trishul Premises Cooperative Housing Society-Harish Arora, Venetia Palia, Phiroze Karmali, Khalid Omar Wakani, Nafees Khan and Vinay Wadhera-challenging the disqualification orders passed by the deputy registrar of cooperative societies of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's H-West ward. In February, the deputy registrar had disqualified the managing committee members for six years after some members complained that the committee's decision to appoint a developer for the society's redevelopment was contrary to the guidelines laid down by the Maharashtra government in 2019. Justice Borkar held that the deputy registrar illegally disqualified the managing committee without following the principles of natural justice-in other words, the decision was not fair or impartial. He added that there was no evidence to suggest the managing committee's decision to appoint a developer for the redevelopment project was taken unilaterally. The society's general body, which is the supreme decision-making authority, had deliberated upon the proposals and approved the developer's appointment through democratic means, the court said. "In such a situation, the managing committee cannot be said to have acted arbitrarily or contrary to the collective will of the society," the court added. The court also said the appointment of the administrator was done without following procedural requirements and without giving convincing reasons. "The immediate appointment of an outsider as administrator, without exploring less interfering options, indicates a predetermined resolve to oust the petitioners at all costs. This fortifies the inference of malice in law (i.e.misuse of power for an improper purpose)," the court added....