Indore hotel must remove portions obstructing 24-metre road widening, Madhya Pradesh High Court rules finding no need for separate land acquisition under Section 305

The petitioner challenged the Municipal Corporation’s notice dated 7 April 2026 requiring removal of portions of its hotel building on R.N.T. Marg, Indore, said to obstruct widening of the road to 24 metres under the Indore Development Plan, 2021.

The petitioner relied on earlier building permissions and disputed the road alignment and measurement, contending that the action amounted to acquisition without compensation.

Following an earlier writ petition, the Corporation conducted a joint inspection on 6 April 2026, heard the petitioner’s objections, and issued a reasoned order identifying two obstructing portions measuring 4.14 m × 20 m and 3.5 m × 20 m.

The petitioner then brought the present petition under Article 226.

1. Whether the Corporation could require removal of the obstructing portions under Section 305 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956, to implement the road width shown in the Development Plan, 2021.

2. Whether the Corporation’s action was arbitrary or violated Article 300A because it deprived the petitioner of property without acquisition proceedings or compensation.

3. Whether the notice and decision-making process were unlawful for failure to provide a hearing, determine the alignment properly, or consider the petitioner’s sanctioned plans and objections.

Section 305 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956, authorises the Corporation to require removal or setting back of a building, or part of it, that projects beyond the regular line of a public street, including a line determined for the future; land added to the street vests in the Corporation, subject to the statutory provisions concerning reasonable compensation.

The Court relied on Ravindra Ramchandra Waghmare v. Indore Municipal Corporation, (2017) 1 SCC 667, for the principles that a development plan is binding on the Corporation and affected owners, and that Section 305 provides a special route for implementing a regular street line without requiring separate acquisition proceedings under the general acquisition law.

The Court also referred to Suresh Singh Kushwah v. Municipal Corporation, Gwalior, 2006 (3) MPLJ 412, and Indore Municipality v. K.N. Palsikar, AIR 1969 SC 579, on removal and vesting under Section 305.

The Indore Development Plan, 2021, prepared under the Nagar Tatha Gram Nivesh Adhiniyam, 1973, was treated as binding on the Corporation and relevant property owners.

The Court found that the Development Plan, 2021, specified a 24-metre width for the road and that the Corporation had conducted a joint inspection with the petitioner’s representative, explained its marking process, and identified the portions obstructing the planned road.

It accepted the Corporation’s position that the earlier reference to a 60-foot width did not alter the Development Plan’s prescribed width and was not a determination made in the petitioner’s specific case.

Applying Waghmare, the Court held that Section 305 could be used to implement the regular street line without commencing separate land-acquisition proceedings.

It further found no apparent arbitrariness or violation of Articles 14 or 300A, and considered the hearing and reasoned order sufficient to reject the procedural objections.

The writ petition was dismissed; the requested relief, including quashing the notice dated 7 April 2026, was refused.