Kolkata: In the absence of any tangible evidence that a residential building near Visva-Bharati University in Santinektan was in the protected ‘khoai’ area, which is an ecologically and culturally preserved zone, the Supreme Court has overturned a Calcutta high court demolition order, reports Srishti Lakhotia.The apex court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the persons who filed the PIL, stating that three of them did not reveal that they had houses “in the immediate vicinity and within the same tract of land”. A two-judge bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said: “In the absence of reliable scientific material establishing the ‘khoai’ character of the subject plot, the foundational premise on which the HC proceeded to issue the directions cannot be said to be conclusively borne out from the record.“The litigation emerged from the Aug 22, 2013 order of a division bench of the HC, by which a residential building developed by Aarsuday Projects & Infrastructure (P) Ltd at Ballavpur mouza in Santinektan on 0.39 acres was declared illegal as it was built on ‘khoai’ land. They were also directed to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh for restoration and Rs 25,000 as fine.In 2002, the Planning Authority had published a Land Use and Development Control Plan earmarking 28.12 acres as “residential area”. This included the 0.39 acre land. Later, the nature of the land was changed from ‘danga’ (barren) to ‘bastu’ (residential).The petitioners argued that it was ‘khoai land’.
