Landowners Entitled to Compensation for Road Widening; PDO Fined Rs. 50,000

Dharwad, Nov 3: The High Court has ruled that damaging or clearing citizens' property for public works—such as road widening—without following the due legal process of land acquisition and without providing compensation, constitutes a violation of the 'Right to Property' guaranteed under Article 300A of the Constitution.

This order was issued by a Division Bench comprising Justice M. Nagaprasanna and Justice Hema Kulkarni at the Dharwad Bench, while dismissing an appeal filed by the Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) of Mangaluru Gram Panchayat in Koppal district. In this case, the landowners possessed *Khata* certificates and other official documents issued by both the Gram Panchayat and the Revenue Department. The petitioners argued that they had purchased 1,584 square feet of land 15 years ago and submitted the sale deed as evidence. The Gram Panchayat, however, alleged that the petitioners had encroached upon two feet of the road to construct a shop, and presented this argument in court. Upon examining the original documents produced by the petitioners, the Bench rejected the Gram Panchayat's contention. It stated that if land was required for the road, it should have been acquired by following the legal land acquisition process and providing appropriate compensation.

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