The Supreme Court, reaffirming its zero-tolerance policy towards unauthorized construction, dismissed a plea seeking regularization of an illegal building in Kolkata, stating unequivocally that such structures must be demolished and cannot be legitimized post facto.
The Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision, which had denied the regularization of the unauthorized construction and directed its demolition.
The bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan observed, “the Courts must adopt a strict approach while dealing with cases of illegal construction and should not readily engage themselves in judicial regularisation of buildings erected without requisite permissions of the competent authority. The need for maintaining such a firm stance emanates not only from inviolable duty cast upon the Courts to uphold the rule of law, rather such judicial restraint gains more force in order to facilitate the well-being of all concerned.”
“The law ought not to come to rescue of those who flout its rigours as allowing the same might result in flourishing the culture of impunity. Put otherwise, if the law were to protect the ones who endeavour to disregard it, the same would lead to undermine the deterrent effect of laws, which is the cornerstone of a just and orderly society.” the Court added.
The Supreme Court observed that there was no merit in the argument for regularization of unauthorized construction, highlighting that those who disregard the law cannot seek to benefit from such violations. Emphasizing the importance of the rule of law, the Court stressed that unauthorized constructions must be demolished, with no exceptions. It also noted that judicial discretion should be exercised within statutory limits, and criticized state governments for enacting laws that allow the regularization of unauthorized constructions through the payment of impact fees, without considering the legal implications.
Read Here: