Smt. Manorama Devi vs The State of Bihar and Others

Aftab Alam, J.—It is a strange case in which the Patna Regional Development Authority though admitting that the house of the petitioner was constructed on the basis and in accordance with a construction plan duly sanctioned by the Patna Improvement Trust which was the concerned statutory authority at the relevant time, still proposes to demolish portions of the house of the petitioner for widening the lane on which it is situate. One should have thought that this court has by now made it abundantly clear that in case a house is constructed on the basis of a duly sanctioned map it is impermissible for the Authority to demolish any portion of it even though it may be situate on a lane having a width of less than 20ft. In such cases if the Authority or any other statutory body wishes to widen the lane, the only courses open are either to persuade the concerned person(s) to voluntarily surrender the necessary strips of land or to acquire the necessary strips of land on payment of compensation to the concerned persons in accordance with law. The Authority or for that matter any other Statutory body cannot forcibly demolish a house or any portion of it which is constructed in accordance with a construction plan duly sanctioned by a statutory body. This writ petition is accordingly allowed and the Patna Regional Development Authority is restrained from demolishing any portion of the petitioner''s house.