Section 163A of encroachment regularisation law quashed

In a significant decision, the HP High Court today quashed Section 163-A of the HP Land Revenue Act, which empowers the state government to regularise encroachments made on government land in certain cases. While declaring that the Section 163-A of HP Land Revenue Act is manifestly arbitrary and unconstitutional, a division bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander Negi held that “If the impugned provision is permitted to remain in the statute, it would defeat the very purpose for which the statute was created.”

The court further observed, “In the Act, there exists Section 163, whereby a detailed mechanism has been provided under the statute for removal of encroachment from government land. In other words, the impugned amendment violates the very edifice of the principal statute. Such a statutory provision cannot be permitted to remain on the statute book.”

The bench further observed that “the object of the impugned provision, i.e. to regularise all illegal encroachments, in itself is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Article 14 is not meant to perpetuate illegality or fraud. It has a positive concept. Equality, it is well settled, cannot be claimed in illegality and therefore, cannot be enforced by a citizen or court in a negative manner.”

The court further directed the state government to ensure removal of encroachment on the government land, in accordance with law, by initiating suitable proceedings against encroachers and taking such proceedings to its logical end as expeditiously as possible preferably on or before February 28, 2026.

The court passed this ruling on a petition filed by Punam Gupta challenging the constitutional validity of section 163-A of the HP Land Revenue Act, whereby encroachments on government land are sought to be regularised.

The response filed by the state before the court reveals that there exists approximately 57,549 cases of encroachments on government land in the state covering an area of about 1,23,835 bighas. Hence, the aforesaid encroachments exist on approximately 10,320 hectares of government land.

Taking into account the magnitude of encroachments made on the government land in the state of Himachal Pradesh, the court directed the state government to consider amendment in the law pertaining to “criminal trespass.”

The Bench further observed that “the court cannot be a silent spectator and is bound to perform its constitutional duty for ensuring that the public property is not frittered by unscrupulous elements in the power corridors. Acts of grabbing public land are properly enquired into and appropriate remedial action taken. Any indulgence on the part of the state/legislators, in protecting such dishonesty, would lead to anarchy and destroy the democratically established institutions, also resulting into indiscrimination.”