Coerced housing society transfer charges are refundable when labelled as donations but extracted beyond lawful limits.

A housing society cannot retain an amount collected beyond the permissible transfer fee merely by labelling it a donation. Where the payer is financially vulnerable, the society occupies a dominant position, the recovered sum exceeds the admitted ceiling, and the payment is promptly challenged, the surrounding circumstances show coercion rather than voluntary payment. The amount is therefore refundable in restitution, with interest. On the facts stated, the Rs. 5,00,000 transfer-related payment was treated as coerced rather than a voluntary donation, and the refund order with reduced interest was maintained.

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Issues: Whether the amount of Rs. 5,00,000 paid by the respondents to the housing society was a voluntary donation or an involuntary payment extracted as transfer fee, and whether the amount was refundable.

Analysis: The respondents were found to be in a financially vulnerable position, while the society occupied a dominant position in the transfer of the premises. The admitted ceiling for transfer charges was far below the amount recovered, and the sequence of events showed that the respondents promptly challenged the payment. In such circumstances, the payment could not be treated as a voluntary donation. A housing society cannot, under the guise of donation, exact amounts beyond the legally permissible transfer fee. If money is taken under pressure or coercion, the recipient cannot retain it and the payer is entitled to restitution under the law of contract.

Conclusion: The amount of Rs. 5,00,000 was not a voluntary donation but a coerced transfer-related payment, and it was rightly directed to be refunded with interest.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed, and the respondents retained the benefit of the modified refund order with reduced interest.

Ratio Decidendi: Money collected by a housing society beyond the permissible transfer fee, though described as a donation, is refundable when the surrounding circumstances show coercion or compulsion rather than voluntary payment.

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