Shimla, Aug. 5 -- In a landmark decision with far-reaching implications, the Himachal Pradesh High Court today struck down Section 163-A of the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1954, a provision that enabled the regularisation of encroachments on government land.
The judgment, delivered by a division bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander Negi, ruled the provision unconstitutional and directed the State to remove all encroachments that were to be regularised under the now-nullified section.
The verdict came in response to a writ petition filed 23 years ago: Poonam Gupta vs State of Himachal Pradesh. It challenged the constitutional validity of Section 163-A. The provision, introduced in 2002 during th...