Bye-Law 117
Bye-Law 117 lists the disqualifications that make a housing society member ineligible to be elected or co-opted to the Managing Committee, including unpaid dues, criminal conviction, and proven financial misconduct.
What is Bye-Law 117?
Not every member can stand for election. Bye-law 117 sets out the grounds on which a member's nomination can be rejected by the Returning Officer during scrutiny. The most commonly invoked disqualification is unpaid maintenance dues.
The three main disqualifications under bye-law 117 are: (1) A member who has unpaid dues to the society and has not cleared them within three months of receiving a written demand notice. (2) A member convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, unless six years have passed since the conviction. (3) A member held responsible for financial irregularities under Section 79 or 88 of the MCS Act, or ordered to bear inquiry costs under Section 85.
Why it matters
Disputes over bye-law 117 disqualifications are the single biggest source of election disputes in Maharashtra housing societies. Typically, a candidate's dues status is contested — either the society's books show outstanding dues the candidate denies, or the calculation of dues is disputed because the maintenance records are not clean.
For the candidate, disqualification means exclusion from the election. For the society, disputed disqualifications can delay the entire election process, delay the Returning Officer's result declaration, and sometimes lead to the Registrar being drawn into the dispute.
Legal & regulatory context
Bye-law 117 is enforced by the Returning Officer at the nomination scrutiny stage. A candidate whose nomination is rejected can appeal to the District Co-operative Election Officer and ultimately to the Co-operative Court.
The dues-based disqualification requires: (a) a written demand notice from the society, (b) three months' grace period after the notice, and (c) dues remaining unpaid after that period. A candidate who pays dues after the notice but before three months have elapsed is not disqualified.
How SocietyBee handles it
SocietyBee's Defaulter Register is always current — it updates as bills are raised and payments posted. The committee can generate a certified defaulter extract before the election, giving the Returning Officer a clean, auditable basis for nomination scrutiny and eliminating most dues-related disputes.
Try SocietyBee free →Frequently asked questions
If a member pays their dues on the day nominations are filed, are they still disqualified?
The disqualification applies to dues unpaid three months after a written demand notice. If dues were paid before the three-month period ended (even on the last day), the member is not disqualified. The timing of the demand notice, not the nomination date, is what matters.
Can a member challenge a bye-law 117 disqualification?
Yes. An appeal lies to the District Co-operative Election Officer, then the Divisional Joint Registrar, and ultimately to the Co-operative Court. The challenge must generally be filed before the election result is declared.