The Patna High Court has ordered the State to pay interim compensation to a family whose house and boundary walls were demolished during an encroachment proceeding without any authorising order, holding that the demolition violated the right to shelter under Article 21 and the protection of property under Article 300-A. A house is not merely four walls but has a ‘divine spirit’, the Court observed, and its demolition is akin to ‘Brahma Hatya’.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a challenge to the demolition of structures raised on agricultural land within the Chandigarh Periphery ‘Control Area’, holding that a General Power of Attorney or similar document confers no title and cannot regularise unauthorised construction. Livelihood, the Court held, cannot be a licence to violate the periphery-control law. Only the unauthorised structures, not the land, are to be removed.
CJI Gavai announced that during the summer vacation, only urgent cases involving imminent death, execution, or house demolition will be heard. He emphasized that non-urgent cases will be scheduled later, while some judges are voluntarily working to address backlogs, despite many lawyers’ reluctance to participate during this period.
