In Brief
The New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) appealed the High Court's disposal of a writ petition concerning the allotment price of an industrial plot. The High Court had accepted Rs.5900 per sq.meter—a rate fixed by interim court order—as final and conclusive, thereby resolving the dispute without examining its merits. The Supreme Court held that an interim rate awarded by court order cannot become binding and final merely through subsequent execution of a lease deed. Since the interim order explicitly stated the rate was temporary and subject to resolution of disputed amounts on merits, the High Court erred in using it as the sole basis to dismiss the writ petition without substantive consideration. The appeal was allowed and the case remitted to the High Court for fresh merit-based adjudication.
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