Calling it a blatant case of “bulldozer justice”, the Orissa High Court has censured the Balasore district administration for illegally razing a decades-old community hall and ordered the officer in charge to pay for part of the damage from his own salary. In a judgment delivered on June 20, Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi awarded Rs 10 lakh in compensation to villagers, directing that Rs 2 lakh be recovered directly from the Tehsildar who supervised the demolition. The Court also ordered departmental proceedings against the officer. The hall—locally known as Goshtigruha—had stood since 1985 and was rebuilt with public funds between 2016 and 2018 under the Ama Gaon Ama Vikas Yojana and the MLA-LAD scheme. It was suddenly declared an encroachment in mid-2024. Court records show that on 29 November 2024 the High Court barred any eviction under the Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment (OPLE) Act. The order was reaffirmed on 13 December. Despite this, the Sub-Collector issued demolition instructions that very evening, and by 10 a.m. the next day the building lay in ruins; villagers were given neither notice nor time to respond. Terming the conduct “disturbing”, Justice Panigrahi also imposed Rs 70 lakh in costs on the Revenue Department for prolonging litigation, and asked the Chief Secretary to frame fresh guidelines ensuring strict compliance with the Supreme Court’s demolition protocol.
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