After Hans Greens Was Built And Plots Sold Under An Approved Plan, MP HC Quashes Revised-Layout Demand, Orders IMC To Process Completion Application In 30 Days

The petitioner obtained approval for a residential colony layout in 2021 and development permission from the Indore Municipal Corporation in 2022.

It then developed the colony and, on 24 March 2025, applied for a work-completion certificate.

After an inspection found plots located nine metres from a watercourse, although adjoining colonies maintained a 30-metre distance, the authorities sought revision of the layout.

On 30 May 2025, the Joint Director, Town and Country Planning, kept the approved layout in abeyance and directed the petitioner to submit a revised plan within 15 days.

The petitioner challenged that communication and sought directions for a completion certificate and release of mortgaged plots.

Rule 24 of the Madhya Pradesh Bhumi Vikas Rules, 2012 restricts deviations involving, among other things, water bodies and prescribed distances from their banks; the Indore Development Plan, 2021, Clause 6.3(21), provides for open-space buffers along rivers, reservoirs and drains, while Rule 50(b) of the 2012 Rules was referred to in connection with development near a drain.

The authority relied on Section 29(3) of the 1973 Adhiniyam to seek modification of the development permission, with Sections 31 and 32 providing a statutory remedy against the impugned communication.

The Court applied the principle that an alternative remedy is not an absolute bar to Article 226 review, including where the action is alleged to be without jurisdiction or arbitrary, relying on Alok Kumar Choubey v. State of M.P. and Satyam Cineplax Ltd. v. State of M.P.

It also relied on M/s Shriram Builders v. Cooperative Department for the proposition that, after permission has been acted upon and development substantially completed, revocation may be inequitable in the circumstances.

The Court found that the layout had been approved in 2021, development permission granted in 2022, and the colony developed in accordance with the sanctioned plan; some plots had also been sold.

It noted that the approved plan itself identified a drain and that the petitioner had developed in accordance with the plan’s nine-metre setback condition.

In the Court’s view, the authorities could not, after the development had been completed and the permission acted upon, require a revised layout merely because adjoining colonies maintained a greater distance, particularly when the petitioner’s plan had been sanctioned after inspection.

The Court treated the direction as arbitrary and affected by jurisdictional infirmity, and considered the alternative-remedy objection insufficient to prevent review under Article 226.

It directed the Indore Municipal Corporation to process the petitioner’s work-completion-certificate application independently and expeditiously, within 30 days of receiving a certified copy of the order.

The Court did not itself direct issuance of the certificate; it also stated that the petitioner was entitled to the requisite project-completion permissions in accordance with the applicable rules.