HC bars Mandi Board from construction activity on Patiala village common land

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab Mandi Board not to undertake any construction activity on 22 acres of land of Mehmadpur of village in Patiala district till the next date of hearing of the case.

In its petition, the Mehmadpur panchayat sought the intervention of the court against illegal acquisition and commercial exploitation of village common land by the Punjab Mandi Board.

Despite the statutory prohibition and repeated objections from the Panchayat and Department of Town and Country Planning, the Punjab Mandi Board, fraudulently induced the petitioner panchayat to transfer the land under the garb of “development” for establishing a vegetable market.

The Board represented that 2/3rd of the shops developed thereon would be allotted to the village community free of cost. Misled by such representations, the panchayat passed resolutions on February 9, 2024, July 13, 2024, April 9 and May 21, granting the land for the above limited purpose.

Thereafter, the Board diverted the use of land for commercial construction, encroached upon public approach roads connecting adjoining villages (Barsat, Kishangarh and Chuharpur), and initiated e-auction of the proposed shops, thereby attempting to usurp panchayat property worth more than Rs 50 crore for private and political gain.

The land falls within 1,000 yards of the Army Ammunition Depot, Patiala. As a result, any construction is in violation to the Work of Defence Act, 1903, and Notification dated January 16, 2006, and subsequent general public notice dated September 4, 2023, which strictly prohibits any construction or raising of even a tree in such restricted zone.

Alarmed by this breach of trust, the petitioner convened a gram sabha, where over 270 villagers unanimously resolved on September 15 to cancel all earlier resolutions and reclaim the panchayat land.

The BDPO, Patiala, accordingly wrote to the DDPO on October 15 recommending restoration of land to the panchayat as the proposed project was impermissible within the Defence Restricted Zone.

The Department of Town Planning had already, vide letters dated August 19, 2024, and September 18, 2024, categorically declared that the proposed construction fell within the prohibited area and was contrary to the Defence Notification of 2006.

Despite these official communications, the Board in connivance with the Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, continued with illegal construction, violating statutory safeguards and fundamental rights of the Mehmadpur panchayat.

After hearing arguments, Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Lapita Banerji said, “The counsel for the petitioner, inter alia, contends that even though the petitioner (panchayat) has cancelled the resolutions, transferring the land in question to the Punjab Mandi Board and the state has written to the Board not to raise any construction on the land that’s within 1,000 yards of the existing ammunition dump, the respondent (Board) is continuing with its construction. Notice of motion to respondents issued for January 21, 2026. Till the adjourned date, no construction shall be carried out on the land.”