Supreme Court stays probe against MP RERA chief

The Supreme Court on March 27 stayed an inquiry initiated against Ajeet Prakash Shrivastava, chairperson of the Madhya Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MP RERA), after taking note of alleged procedural violations [AP Srivastava vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.]..A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan issued notice to the Madhya Pradesh government and directed that no further steps be taken pursuant to the probe until the next hearing on April 2..Shrivastava, a retired IAS officer, was appointed as MP RERA Chairperson in March 2021 by the State government in consultation with the Madhya Pradesh High Court. According to his petition, he served in the role for nearly four years without any complaint or allegation of misconduct..On February 20, 2025, a notice was issued by the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur directing Shrivastava to appear before a judge and respond to complaints forwarded by the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development and Housing Department. Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Shrivastava contended that this notice, which formed the basis of the inquiry, was issued in complete disregard and violation to the procedure laid down in the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and the MP RERA Rules, 2017, it was contended.He highlighted that the notice was issued following a directive from the Chief Minister’s Office seeking cancellation of all non-official appointment..Under Rule 35 of the MP RERA Rules, any complaint against the chairperson must first be subjected to preliminary scrutiny by the State government. If a prima facie case is found, the matter has to be referred to a High Court judge and the final decision on removal must be taken in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court. Shrivastava argued that none of these mandatory steps were followed and that a judge was nominated unilaterally by the High Court establishment based on political directive..It was also submitted that since the High Court was involved in initiating the inquiry process, it could not be treated as a neutral forum for redress, leaving no option but to directly approach the Supreme Court. The petition invoked Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution arguing that the process followed violated Shrivastava’s fundamental rights..After hearing the submissions, the Court ordered that the inquiry shall remain stayed until the next date of hearing on April 2..Shrivastava was represented by Senior Advocate Shyam Divan along with advocates Siddharth R Gupta, Aman Agarwal, Uddaish Palya, Vidisha Raman and Siddharth Sahu. The petition was filed through advocate Mrigank Prabhakar. .[Read Order]