MP HC Orders Indore Corporation To Decide Siddarth Nagar Colony’s Completion Certificate Application Without Collector NOC Within 30 Days

The petitioners, residents and plot-holders in Siddarth Nagar Colony, challenged the Additional Collector’s order dated 18 December 2025 rejecting their application for an NOC connected with obtaining a Work Completion Certificate from the Indore Municipal Corporation (“IMC”).

The colony was developed on land exempted under Section 20(1) of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976.

The petitioners relied on inquiry reports of the Cooperative Inspector and Tehsildar, which they said confirmed compliance with the exemption conditions.

The Additional Collector found that compliance with Conditions 2, 4 and 9 was unsubstantiated and sought State Government guidance.

The petition also arose against the background of a Collector’s communication dated 4 November 2022 requiring an NOC or opinion in cases involving land exempted under the 1976 Act.

Section 20(1) of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 provided the basis for the land exemption, but the Court’s decision concerned whether a further NOC could be required for the colony-development process.

Relying on Abhishek Mittal v. Indore Municipal Corporation and Others, W.P. No. 16589 of 2025, and subsequent decisions applying it, the Court held that the applicable colony-development rules do not prescribe an NOC from the Collector or Cooperative Department; an executive instruction cannot create an additional statutory eligibility condition or documentary requirement.

The Court also exercised its jurisdiction under Article 226 to review the impugned administrative order.

The Court treated the legal question as whether the prior NOC requirement had statutory force.

Its earlier decisions had examined the same Collector’s communication of 4 November 2022 and held that it was an executive instruction, not a requirement under the governing rules.

The IMC therefore could not make its statutory consideration of the Work Completion Certificate dependent on production of that NOC.

Applying those decisions, the Court found the impugned rejection unsustainable and directed the IMC to assess the application independently under the governing law and rules.

The decision did not require the IMC to grant the certificate automatically; it required independent processing without insisting on the NOC.

It directed the IMC to process and decide the application for a Work Completion Certificate independently, strictly under the governing statutory provisions and rules, without insisting on an NOC from the Collector or Cooperative Department, within 30 days of receiving a certified copy of the order.

The writ petition was disposed of accordingly.