Pune: The Bombay High Court has declined to provide any relief to Aryan World School in Pune, which had contested a demolition order issued by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) for unauthorised construction on its campus.
A division bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Kamal Khata, in their May 9 ruling, stated that the judiciary cannot instruct planning authorities to regularise unlawful constructions solely on the grounds that they serve a public purpose, such as educating nearly 2,000 students. The court stressed that “illegality is inherently incurable” and must be addressed without bias.
Located in Bhilarewadi, the school had challenged the PMRDA’s demolition notice dated April 17, arguing that it had not been granted a fair hearing. Representing the school, advocate Neeta Karnik claimed that the building was constructed based on a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the local gram panchayat in 2007, which was then considered the competent authority. However, the court clarified that the gram panchayat lacked the legal jurisdiction to issue such permissions and that approval should have come from the district collector in the absence of a designated planning authority.
Calling the structure “completely illegal,” the bench directed the Maharashtra government to take disciplinary action against the gram panchayat and its sarpanch for issuing the unauthorised NOC and asked for a compliance affidavit by November 14.
The judges also voiced concern over the growing misuse of legal provisions where people seek to regularise illegal constructions under the guise of ignorance or public service. They firmly stated that such acts erode the integrity of town planning and the rule of law.
As a result, the demolition order against Aryan World School stands, with the court granting no relief in the matter.
