Madhya Pradesh High Court Warns Bhopal Collector Over Non-Compliance with RERA Order

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a stern directive to the Bhopal collector, instructing him to implement its earlier order within 10 days or personally appear before the court at the next hearing of a contempt petition filed by city resident Arvind Verma. This marks Verma’s second contempt petition after the collector failed to comply with a previous high court directive.

According to Verma’s petition, the high court had earlier set a 30-day deadline for the Bhopal collector to execute the Revenue Recovery Certificate (RRC) issued by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).

However, with the deadline passing without compliance, Verma was compelled to file another contempt petition. The court had previously warned that if the collector failed to act within the stipulated timeframe and the petitioner had to approach the court again, the collector would be personally responsible for covering the litigation costs of both petitions.

Verma stated that RERA had initially issued the RRC against the concerned builder in 2020 and directed the Bhopal collector to enforce the recovery order. However, the collector took no action, prompting Verma to approach the high court.

In response, the court ordered the collector to execute the RERA directive within 60 days. When this order was disregarded, Verma filed a contempt petition.

The court, while disposing of the petition, gave the collector a 30-day ultimatum, explicitly cautioning that any further non-compliance would result in him bearing the litigation expenses.

With the matter still unresolved, the high court, under Justice A.K. Singh, has now scheduled the next hearing for March 12. The judge has reiterated that the Bhopal collector must implement the order by this date or appear in court to explain the continued non-compliance.

Advocates Kapil Duggal and Dhruv Verma represented the petitioner in the case.