In a landmark judgment, the Allahabad High Court has ordered the Catholic Diocese of Gorakhpur and the Uttar Pradesh government to pay a hefty penalty of Rs 10 lakh for the unlawful occupation of land belonging to a villager. The court’s decision highlights a serious infringement of property rights that lasted over three decades, impacting the landowner Bhola Singh and his legal heirs.
The case centered around plot No. 26 in Mauza Jangal Salikram, Gorakhpur, where Bhola Singh maintained possession until his death during the litigation. The Catholic Diocese initiated construction activities on the land, claiming it was legally obtained during a ceiling process and subsequently leased to them by the state for building a hospital. However, Justice Kshitij Shailendra found that the land transaction lacked legal backing, describing the actions of the state and the Diocese as akin to “grabbing land of a rustic villager and committing trespass.”
The court discovered discrepancies in the state’s records, noting that only a co-owner’s share, not Singh’s portion, was officially transferred to the government, which then improperly leased it to the Diocese. This led to the unauthorized construction of a boundary wall by the Diocese, despite objections from Singh.
In a strong rebuke, the court criticized both the state and the Diocese for using their combined influence to manipulate documents and bypass legal standards, thereby depriving Singh’s family of their property rights for an extended period.
