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Orissa HC orders state government to pay Rs 10 lakh for illegal demolition
The Orissa High Court has ordered the Odisha government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation for illegally demolishing a structure belonging to a community centre.
Of the Rs 10 lakh, Rs 2 lakh will be recovered from the salary of a tehsildar, the court said in its June 20 order.
Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi said that the court had taken serious note of the conduct of the tehsildar, 'whose actions in this case reflect a steady and conscious departure from the standards expected of a responsible' official.
'When judicial directions were first issued, there was an opportunity to act with restraint and deference to the process of law…' the bench said. 'It was a deliberate act taken while judicial consideration was still underway.'
The community centre in Cuttack district's Athagarh was located on a plot of land that was classified as a grazing ground, which falls under the 1972 Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act.
The centre purportedly existed in some form since 1985. It was reconstructed between 2016 and 2018 using public funds sanctioned under the state government's Ama Gaon Ama Vikas Yojana and the Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development Fund.
While the authorities had never objected to the structure in the past, encroachment proceedings were initiated in July 2024 under the Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act.
The petitioners in the matter had challenged the encroachment notice in the High Court, which had rejected the plea citing a lack of evidence of continuous possession and absence of resolution, among other reasons.
The petitioners had challenged the rejection of their plea before the sub-collector, who was the appellate authority.
In November, the High Court had directed the authorities not to evict the community centre while the appeal was pending.
However, a fresh eviction notice was issued in December. When the notice was challenged, the High Court reiterated its stay on December 13. The same day, the sub-collector reserved the order on the appeal and a demolition notice was attached.
The following morning, the structure was demolished. The petitioners alleged that they were not given time to challenge the demolition notice and vacate the premises.
To this end, the petitioners had filed a contempt plea.
The High Court said in its June 20 order that the authorities had not only breached procedural safeguards mandated by the Supreme Court, but also shown disregard for constitutional processes.
In November, the Supreme Court had said that processes must be followed before removing allegedly illegal encroachments.
The structure was demolished while the appellate authority had not pronounced its final order, the High Court said.
'...when the hearing concluded and the order was reserved, the tahasildar proceeded not with circumspection, but with haste,' the court said in its order.
