‘Public way is not private territory’: Orissa High Court rejects shopkeepers’ plea to stop demolition for road widening

Orissa High Court News: Dismissing the plea of local shopkeepers against the state authorities’ order of demolition and eviction, the Orissa High Court said that citizens have no fundamental right to a specific location in a public way.

Justice Sanjeeb Panighahi was dealing with the plea of shopkeepers of the Golden Jubilee and Arunodaya Market Complexes of Balasore, who challenged the state’s demolition and eviction order to clear the path for road widening and drainage infrastructure projects.

“Citizens have no fundamental right to a specific location in a public way. The right to carry on business under Article 19(1)(g) is subject to reasonable restrictions for public convenience,” the court observed.

The order added that if unauthorised occupation of roads, drains, and other common spaces is permitted to continue for years, the very public record begins to be gaslit into irrelevance, and illegality is projected as normal, settled, and “accepted”.

Highlighting the significance of public property, the court said that the longer such an occupation persists, the stronger the false sense of entitlement becomes, and when the administration finally acts, a routine enforcement step risks turning into a law-and-order situation.

“That is how a public way slowly becomes private territory,” the order noted.

Jagriti Rai works with The Indian Express, where she writes from the... Read More