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The Rajasthan High Court has instructed the Rajasthan Housing Board to take decisive action within three weeks to remove encroachments from 87 illegal colonies in the Sanganer area of Jaipur, a bench ruling earlier this week. The directive follows a public interest petition alleging that the state government's earlier order to regularise these colonies developed on land acquired by the housing board violated previous court orders and was being improperly implemented. The court warned that the housing board's commissioner must appear personally before the bench if compliance is not achieved within the stipulated timeframe. Petitioners argued that construction in the unauthorised colonies continues unabated and that influential individuals were exploiting enforcement gaps. The original ruling, issued in August last year, had stayed the government's regularisation order and required prompt removal of illegal developments on acquired land.
The Rajasthan High Court has issued a stern order requiring the Rajasthan Housing Board to clear encroachments from 87 illegal colonies located on land in the Sanganer tehsil of Jaipur within a period of three weeks, senior judicial sources said earlier this week. The decision arose from contempt proceedings following alleged inaction on an earlier judgment that sought removal of unauthorised constructions on housing board acquired land. Advertisement
The land in question was originally acquired by the housing board for planned development along the B-2 Bypass corridor. However, over the years, petitioners said, the land was occupied without requisite approvals, and residential and other structures were developed on plots that were not formally regularised. In March last year, the state government attempted to legalise these unauthorised developments, but the High Court stayed that regularisation order on the basis that it contravened legal and planning norms.
During hearings on the matter, the petitioners, led by civil society body Public Against Corruption, argued that despite the August order, construction activity in the illegal colonies had continued and minimal enforcement action had been taken by the authorities. They asserted that influential persons were allegedly exploiting enforcement laxity to perpetuate the unauthorised occupation of housing board land. The bench noted these concerns and directed that compliance be achieved within three weeks, cautioning the housing board commissioner that failure to comply would necessitate personal attendance before the court.
The dispute has drawn attention to broader issues of enforcement in urban fringe areas of Jaipur, where unauthorised colonies have proliferated on government-acquired land, often with claims of irregular permissions or delayed action by local authorities. Prior court interventions have emphasised that encroachment followed by subsequent regularisation undermines statutory planning processes, and previous orders have barred such regularisation and mandated removal of illegal structures.
This latest directive dovetails with earlier judicial pronouncements aiming to ensure that land acquired for public purposes, such as housing board projects and infrastructure, is not unlawfully occupied or developed. Authorities will now be required to demonstrate tangible progress towards dismantling unauthorised constructions and restoring the land, and the matter will return to the High Court's docket if the directive is not met within the specified period.
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