Indore (Madhya Pradesh): In a relief to a real estate developer, the Madhya Pradesh High Court's Indore Bench has quashed a government order denying development permission to a private builder because an old government record could not be traced.
Justice Sandeep N Bhatt set aside the July 3 order that stalled Luminous Infra Projects LLP's residential colony, Luminous Corridor-II, observing that authorities could not act in a "high-handed and arbitrary" manner by reviving old ceiling disputes after accepting property records for over two decades.
Luminous Infra Projects LLP purchased the land through registered sale deeds between 2023 and 2026. Before seeking development permission, it obtained land mutation, diversion for residential use and layout sanction from the Department of Town and Country Planning.
The administration, however, rejected its application on July 3, saying a Dec 8, 2010, Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) order clearing the land of Agricultural Ceiling Act restrictions and allowing private ownership entries could not be traced in the local register (Dayra Panji).
The State argued that the missing file meant the land remained affected by ceiling proceedings dating to 1976.
Court Flags 22 Years of Inaction
Rejecting the argument, the High Court noted that the Board of Revenue had set aside the original ceiling proceedings on June 30, 2004, and the State had not challenged that order.
"The petitioner cannot be punished for non-availability of government records which can never be controlled by the petitioner," the court observed. It also noted that no evidence of fraud had been presented.
Holding that denying development rights because of administrative lapses violated property rights under Article 300A of the Constitution, the High Court allowed both writ petitions and directed the authorities to grant the requisite development permission for Luminous Corridor-II.
