GAYATRI DE vs MOUSUMI COOP HOUSING SOCIETY LTD . — C.A. No. 3523/1998

Summary: The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the Division Bench's dismissal of the writ petition. The Court held that under the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 1983, a deceased cooperative member's flat interest is heritable and devolves to legal heirs in the absence of a nominee. The Court found the Special Officer's 1988 letter re-allotting the flat to a stranger was illegal and arbitrary, as it was issued more than 16 months after receiving notice of the legal heirs' claim without affording them a hearing. The writ petition was maintainable as the Special Officer is a statutory functionary and public authority. The legal heirs were entitled to succeed to the flat upon compliance with statutory requirements. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.