The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that when the Commissioner of a Municipal Corporation delegates powers under Section 307 of the M.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 to another officer such as a Building Officer any order passed by the delegatee is deemed to be an order of the Commissioner himself. Consequently, no appeal lies to the Commissioner against such an order.
The case arose from a demolition order dated 25 May 2022 passed by the Building Officer of Indore Municipal Corporation against petitioner for alleged violations of the M.P. Bhoomi Vikas Rules, 2012. The respondents argued that the petitioner had an alternate remedy of appeal before the Commissioner under Section 403 of the Act, citing various precedents. The petitioner countered that since the order was passed by the Commissioner’s delegatee, an appeal to the Commissioner was legally untenable.
Justice Pranay Verma relied on Supreme Court rulings in Roop Chand v. State of Punjab, AIR 1963 SC 1503 and Chairman, Indore Vikas Pradhikaran v. Pure Industrial Coke & Chemicals Ltd. (2007) 8 SCC 705, which establish that the power exercised by a delegate remains that of the delegator, and the delegate’s acts are treated as those of the principal. The Court further noted that delegation does not create an independent power in the delegatee, nor can the delegator review his own delegated order.
Finding the respondents’ reliance on other cases misplaced since those involved orders by officers exercising independent powers, not delegated ones, the Court rejected the preliminary objection regarding maintainability and ruled that the appeal to the Commissioner was not available in such circumstances. The matter has been listed for further hearing after four weeks, with the interim relief continuing until the next date.