Supreme Court Orders Removal Of Encroachments: “Schools Cannot Be Without Playgrounds; Children Are Entitled To A Healthy Environment”

The Supreme Court noted that no school can function without a playground when ordering the removal of unauthorized habitations from a Haryana school’s playground’s designated area.
A bench made up of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna disagreed with a decision made by the Punjab and Haryana High Court that allowed encroachments close to the school to be regularized.
The Haryana State was appealing the High Court’s decision when the appeal was being heard by the bench. There was no question that the land that belonged to the Gram Panchayat and was set aside for the school playground was being occupied illegally by the private respondents. They proposed to trade an identical amount of land before the High Court.
In order to use the vacant spaces for the school, the High Court ordered the authorities to separate residential plots from the encroached areas. The Supreme Court further instructed the authorities to investigate the possibility of either accepting alternative lands supplied by the occupants that were twice as large as the area under occupation or legalizing the occupancy by paying market value.
This news is written by Mr. Manpreet Rathor, Research Assistant, All India Legal Forum.