MP: Justice Manindar Singh Bhatti To Probe Against RERA Chairman AP Shrivastava

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Amid a showdown between chairman of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) AP Shrivastava and the government, a high court judge Justice Manindar Singh Bhatti has been handed over a probe into the allegations against Shrivastava.

To remove the RERA chairman, it is necessary to probe allegations against him by a high court judge and prove the charges. After receiving complaints against Shrivastava, the state government wrote to the Chief Justice of the high court, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait who appointed Justice Bhatti to probe the allegations.

The probe will be conducted according to section 26 of the RERA Act. The RERA chairman can be removed only if he is declared insolvent or found guilty of immoral act or mentally unfit to work. He can be removed in case he has made money through illegal means and it has an impact on his work or if he has misused his office so much that it has gone against public interest.

Against him, there are allegations of recruiting staffers without taking approval from proper authorities, delaying the projects beyond time limit and harassing builders. In February last year, the government issued an order removing Shrivastava from RERA.

Because the order was not according to the RERA Act, the government was not able to remove him. On the grounds of a complaint made by a person, EOW registered a preliminary case against Shrivastava, but RERA said EOW action had been wrong.

But it was swept under the carpet afterwards. Now, an HC judge is probing the allegations against him. According to experts, before conducting a probe by an HC judge against RERA chairman, the government should inquire about the allegations and scrutinise those charges, but in the present case, it has not been done.