The bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta directed the developer to refund the money collected from all residential plot holders with 18 per cent interest from the date of purchase of plot.
In a bolt from the blue, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Kant Enclave, a residential colony housing 33 houses in the eco-fragile Aravalli range of Faridabad, to be "forest" land and directed demolition of all buildings constructed after August 1992 by end of December this year. Around Kant Enclave, a whole gamut of institutions have sprung up including universities, temples, and residential colonies, which face the threat of being declared illegal as well pursuant to the court order.
The prominent residential complex is home to a former Chief Justice of India and of the 1,600 plots cut out by the developer R Kant and Company, 284 were sold out for residential purpose and three for commercial use. The court order would impact all plot holders.
The bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta directed the developer to refund the money collected from all residential plot holders with 18 per cent interest from the date of purchase of plot. Those facing demolition of their houses will get a sum of Rs 50 lakh, as compensation towards the cost of construction. In addition, the developer would deposit an amount of Rs five crore towards Aravali rehabilitation Fund to develop the eco-sensitive area, the Court ordered.
What proved the nemesis for the housing colony was an August 18, 1992 notification issued by the Haryana government prohibiting any kind of activity on the said land that was treated as forest land under the Punjab Land Preservation (PLP) Act 1900. There was an exemption under the 1992 notification allowing Divisional Forest Officer to use this land for cultivation purpose. In any event, the Court held, "construction activity could not be permitted even by the Divisional Forest Officer."
"Frightening" was the word the Court used to describe the flagrant violation made by Kant Enclave residents and the attitude of the Haryana government in ignoring the notification. Earlier decisions by the Supreme Court closing the area under PLP Act for non-forest purposes were also given a miss. Any such permission required the state government to seek prior approval from the Central Government under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. This permission was never taken and instead, the Town and Country Planning Department of the state issued orders permitting construction. Commenting on the conduct of the state, the bench said, "The rule of law seems to have broken down in Haryana and become the rule of men only to favour the applicants."
While applicants pointed out an order passed by the Court on May 13, 1998, permitting construction of single-storey hutments, the bench clarified that this was not meant to be a license to construct. All that it said was for plans to be prepared that could be examined. The bench cited letters issued from time to time by the state forest department recognizing the land of Kant Enclave to be forest land. This was sufficient for the Court to hold the constructions to be illegal. The judges held, "Taking an overall view of all the facts in the case and the law on the subject, we have no doubt that Kant Enclave is a forest and absolutely no construction activity could have been permitted on it with effect from August 18, 1992. Any and all construction activity in Kant Enclave since that date is illegal and impermissible in law."
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