Court directs Administrator to decide property representations considering registered sale deeds and existing status quo orders.

The petitioners purchased residential plots through registered sale deeds in 1993.

These deeds were previously challenged in Civil, Cooperative, and Revenue Courts, where the petitioners’ interests were upheld, attaining finality up to the High Court.

However, on 18.02.2010, an Inquiry Committee headed by the Additional Collector, Bhopal, issued findings adverse to the petitioners regarding the said plots.

The petitioners challenged this decision and subsequent letters from the respondent Society, seeking a writ of prohibition and the enforcement of status quo orders regarding 19 plots.

During the pendency of the litigation, the respondent Society was superseded by the State, and an Administrator was appointed.

1. Whether the findings of the Inquiry Committee dated 18.02.2010 and the subsequent actions of the respondents were arbitrary and unsustainable in light of prior judicial decrees.

2. Whether the dispute regarding possession and deposit conditions could be relegated to the newly appointed Administrator for a time-bound resolution.

The Court primarily exercised its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India regarding the judicial review of administrative actions.

It applied the principle of Natural Justice, specifically the right to a fair hearing (audi alteram partem), and emphasized the binding nature of registered sale deeds and prior judicial decrees which have attained finality.

The court also relied on the principle of administrative efficiency, delegating factual disputes to a statutory Administrator when a Society is under State supervision.

The Court did not adjudicate the merits of the Inquiry Committee’s findings but focused on the procedural deadlock existing since 2010.

The Court reasoned that since the matter involved complex questions of fact—including the verification of sale deeds, Society records, and the impact of the interim status quo order dated 28.09.2011—the Administrator was the appropriate authority to decide the representation in the first instance.

This approach ensures that the petitioners’ registered rights are weighed against the Committee’s findings within a fixed timeframe while preserving the right to future legal recourse.

The Administrator (Respondent No. 7) was directed to decide all representations within two months of receiving the order, after providing a due opportunity of hearing to all concerned parties, considering the registered sale deeds, Society records, and the High Court’s interim order dated 28.09.2011.