The Supreme Court on Friday overturned an Allahabad High Court directive ordering the demolition of a Panchayat Bhawan in a village in Uttar Pradesh, remarking that structures built with public funds should not be brought down unnecessarily.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi modified the High Court’s March 4, 2024 order, which had directed dismantling of the community building at Phirsah Churrah village in Pilibhit district. The High Court had acted on a PIL alleging that the structure was obstructing a traditional village pathway.
“After all this is government money which was used for construction of Panchayat Bhawan that too on a Gram Sabha land… the public money should not go waste,” the bench observed while ruling against the demolition.
The Supreme Court was informed that an alternative route for the villagers had already been created and that the Bhawan stood on Gram Sabha land itself, not on private or unauthorised land.
Taking note of the submissions, the bench refrained from allowing demolition and instead issued directions to ensure a practical resolution.
The court directed the district collector to conduct a personal inspection of the site to verify the existence of the pathway and to resolve the dispute in a manner that accommodates public access.
Reiterating that the building cannot be razed, the bench clarified that the grievance over the pathway must be settled locally and effectively.
The PIL was filed in 2022 by Angrej Singh, a villager who claimed that plot No. 254 was marked as a public pathway in revenue records and that the construction amounted to encroachment.
With the Supreme Court’s intervention, the Panchayat Bhawan remains intact, subject to the district collector ensuring that the alternate route satisfactorily serves the villagers’ access needs.
