Bhubaneswar: The use of demolitions as a tool of enforcement without procedural compliance transforms a lawful act into a coercive one, the Orissa High Court said recently while censuring the government in a case of 'bulldozer justice'.

The High Court was dealing with a petition that claimed that the authorities had demolished a community centre at the Balipur Mouza in Cuttack district without following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

In his ruling on June 20, Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi described 'bulldozer justice' as a procedure where executive power, backed by machinery rather than reason, supplants legal process.  

The court is of the view that the Tahasildar had shown undue haste in demolishing the structure which served as a vital public utility space. It directed the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation with Rs 2 lakh to be recovered from the salary of the erring officer in reasonable installments.

The HC also ordered departmental proceedings against the Tahasildar and asked the Chief Secretary to issue detailed guidelines to all the revenue officials and municipal authorities about the norms laid down by the apex court.

As per the case records, the community center had been constructed on a piece of 'gochar' (grazing land), which is governed by the Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment (OPLE) Act.

The structure, originally constructed in 1985, was repaired post-cyclone in 1999, and reconstructed in 2016-18 using public funds sanctioned under the “Ama Gaon Ama Vikas Yojana” and the MLA-LAD fund.

However, the community centre was demolished in July last year as per the order of the Athagarh Sub-Collector’s court.