Mumbai: Illegality is inherently incurable, and the law is equal and uniformly applicable to all, without exception, the Bombay High Court has emphasised. The high court has refused to grant any relief to a Pune school challenging the order passed by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority asking the school to demolish part of its building’s unauthorised structure.
The court underscored that merely because the educational institution caters to around 2000 students, the court cannot consider ordering the authority to regularise the illegal structure.
A bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata noted that there is this common belief in Maharashtra that one can construct structures illegally and without permission and then subsequently seek regularisation.
The HC was hearing a petition by Aryan World School, a charitable educational institution, seeking quashing of the April 17 order of demolition of certain unauthorised construction in the premises passed by the PMRDA. Seeking regularisation of the unauthorised structure, the school claimed that it runs a reputed school at Bhilarewadi in Pune from Standard 1 to 10 and presently has around 2000 students.
It added that the demolition order has been passed without giving a hearing to the school management. Moreover, the PMRDS rejected the regularisation application filed by the school early this year.
The school’s counsel Neeta Karnik argued that the structure was constructed based on the No Objection Certificate issued in October 2007 by the Grampanchayat, which was the relevant authority at the time.
The HC stressed that the Grampanchayat has no authority to grant construction permission and that permission ought to have been obtained from the Collector in the absence of any authority. It added that the structure constructed by the school was wholly illegal and no permission had been obtained from the competent authority before construction.
The judges also refused to accept the school’s contention that merely because it is an educational institute servicing around 2000 students, the Court must consider and relegate them to the PMRDA to regularise their illegal structure.
“Such misplaced sympathy not only undermines the sanctity of the law but also jeopardises the very foundation of town planning. Illegality is inherently incurable, and the law is equal and uniformly applicable to all, without exception,” the court said.
Flagging the issue, the HC also asked the government to take action against the concerned Grampanchayat and the Sarpanch for issuing such No Objection Certificates or permissions allowing such illegal constructions.
The court has directed the government to file a compliance affidavit by November 14, 2025 stating action taken against the concerned persons in the Grampanchayat who granted the petitioner school NOC and also the Sarpanch who permitted the illegal construction.
“It has become a recurring trend for individuals who have engaged in blatantly illegal or unauthorised constructions to invoke pleas of illiteracy when such constructions serve their own interests or alternatively, to create third-party rights in an attempt to elicit sympathy or secure concessions for regularization as a matter of right,” the bench added.
