Nagpur: In a landmark ruling that ends years of anxiety for thousands of families, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has quashed a 2010 show-cause notice issued to Radiance Erectors Pvt Ltd of the Wadhwani Group, affirming that its Besa-Beltarodi housing project had valid Gram Panchayat approvals and could not retrospectively be termed “unauthorised.”
The notice, issued by the then Deputy Collector on February 4, 2010, had alleged violations of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act. However, the court found glaring contradictions in the document, which simultaneously claimed the construction was “being carried out” and “already carried out.” The judges said this reflected “an uncertain mind” and noted that no site inspection had been conducted before issuing the notice.
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18 Aug 2025
The division bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Vrushali Joshi held that the builder had complied with all requirements, including securing permissions from the Besa-Beltarodi Gram Panchayat and the Assistant Director of Town Planning, as directed by the Collector himself in 2004 and 2005. The court ruled that the subsequent intervention by the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), which became the Special Planning Authority in August 2010, could not invalidate approvals already granted or completed projects.
For residents of the rapidly urbanising Besa-Beltarodi belt, the case had come to symbolise a larger turf war between Gram Panchayats and NIT over planning authority. Hundreds of homebuyers feared that their Panchayat-sanctioned flats might be declared illegal after NIT began issuing demolition notices under Section 53(1) of the MRTP Act.
In quashing the notice against Radiance Erectors, the court underscored that completed and sanctioned constructions cannot be retrospectively challenged. “The reflection of an uncertain mind coming up in the impugned show-cause notice, we must say, indicates that the authority did not take any spot inspection and issued a show-cause notice just to create a record,” the bench observed.
The verdict not only shields Radiance Erectors and its homebuyers from further action but also sets a precedent for more than 200 similar layouts caught in legal disputes. More importantly, it provides long-awaited stability for families who had invested their life savings in projects sanctioned by local bodies.
For Besa-Beltarodi residents long trapped between developers, officials, and courts, the judgment brings both legal clarity and emotional relief, reaffirming their right to a secure roof over their heads.
