Court's amazement over continued constructions

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has expressed amazement over ongoing constructions in Kaimbwala village despite a subsisting ban, after a court-appointed commissioner's report revealed a large number of constructions, including new boundary walls. The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed, "We are amazed as to how the authorities have allowed such constructions to go on when there is a ban imposed by the division bench of this court."

The court was hearing an application in an ongoing case in which it was reported that authorities were permitting widespread construction in the village. The application stated that rampant construction was being allowed by digging trenches in some areas.

Local Commissioner's report and court's directive

Advocate Nitin Kaushal, appointed as Local Commissioner on the previous date of hearing, submitted his report along with a pen drive. Taking the report on record, the bench observed, "As per the report and video played before the court, large number of constructions are shown to exist, including raising of new boundary walls on the khasra numbers itself."

The court has directed revenue authorities to file an affidavit identifying "the persons, who have actually raised construction of boundary walls etc, in violation of the court orders." The bench added, "We expect that the authorities would ensure that the status as it exists pursuant to order of the writ court is maintained and no unauthorised construction is allowed in the area." The bench also noted it would be open for parties aggrieved by the Local Commissioner's report to file objections.

Background and previous hearings

At the August 27 hearing, when the application was taken up, the UT had submitted that revenue officials had inspected the area and found no construction. Following conflicting claims, the court appointed a lawyer as court commissioner to inspect the site and report the factual position.

During the hearing on August 31, senior advocate Amit Jhanji, along with advocate Himanshu Malik, appearing for the UT Chandigarh administration, submitted that the authorities would ensure maintenance of status pursuant to the court directions and no unauthorised construction would be permitted.

The applicants, represented by senior advocate Akshay Bhan, alleged that authorities were permitting widespread construction despite a division bench order from December 18, 2020, whereby demolition alone had been kept in abeyance. They alleged that "rampant construction is being allowed by digging trenches in Khasra No. 23" and that "external soil and industrial malba is being dumped in the plots", with dumped material going up to "15/20 feet in height." The applicants submitted that Kaimbwala village was part of a "fragile ecological zone" and a "Sukhna Lake Catchment area."

The UT Administration disputed the allegations, submitting that revenue officials found "existence of no construction on the spot."

Sukhna protection orders

In March 2020, the High Court had declared Sukhna a living entity and imposed a slew of restrictions on various kinds of activities. The court had also imposed a fine of ₹100 crore each on Punjab and Haryana for causing damage to the catchment area of Sukhna and ordered demolition of all structures in the catchment area as demarcated by Survey of India in 2004. A review of this order sought by Punjab and Haryana is pending before the High Court.

The matter is scheduled for further hearing on September 10.