Mere membership in a cooperative housing society is not inheritable unless allotment has already created transferable rights.

Mere membership in a cooperative group housing society does not, by itself, devolve on a nominee or legal heir. The legal distinction is between simple society membership and a situation where a plot or flat has already been allotted: only after allotment do transferable or inheritable rights arise. If the nominee is otherwise ineligible under the bye-laws and no flat has been allotted to the deceased member, the nominee cannot step into the deceased member's shoes. On that basis, orders recognising such nominee membership were unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the mere membership of a deceased member of a cooperative group housing society can devolve on the nominee, who is otherwise ineligible to be a member of that society.

Analysis: The relevant distinction is between a case where a deceased member has only membership of the society and a case where, in addition, a plot or flat has already been allotted. Mere membership is not an inheritable estate and does not devolve on the nominee or legal heirs. Only where allotment has already been made do transferable or inheritable rights arise. Since the nominee in the present case did not satisfy the eligibility conditions in the bye-laws and the deceased member had not been allotted a flat, the claim to step into the deceased member's shoes could not be accepted.

Conclusion: Mere membership of the deceased member could not be inherited by the nominee. The orders recognising the nominee's membership were unsustainable, and the challenge succeeded in favour of the petitioner.

---