Calcutta HC Restores Demolition Order For Cantilever Breaching Panchayat-Sanctioned Plan, Says Panchayat Samiti—not BDA—Has Jurisdiction

The dispute concerned an extended cantilever constructed on the upper floor of the writ petitioner’s property, allegedly in deviation from the building plan sanctioned by the Panchayat Samiti.

The Panchayat Samiti and the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) had ordered demolition; the writ court set those orders aside and directed the Burdwan Development Authority (BDA) to issue notices under Sections 52 and 53 of the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979.

The appellant challenged that decision, contending that enforcement of the sanctioned building plan fell within the Panchayat Samiti’s jurisdiction under the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973.

The BDA had issued notices in accordance with the writ court’s direction, but proceedings were stayed pending the appeal.

The Court treated the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 and the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 as statutes operating in distinct fields, notwithstanding their possible territorial overlap.

Under Section 114A of the 1973 Act, the Panchayat Samiti has powers relating to development permission and demolition in the circumstances specified by that section; Section 114B also addresses building control and demolition for the category of construction it covers.

The Court held that where demolition is sought because construction violates a building plan sanctioned by the Panchayat Samiti, the demolition power must be exercised by the authority to which the governing statute assigns it.

It also relied on the unreported Division Bench decision in Binoy Majunder v. The Durgapur Ex Servicemen’s Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., FMA 769 of 2025 (14 May 2025).

Although Section 53 of the 1979 Act empowers the BDA to take specified action against unauthorised development, Section 137 of that Act could not be applied so as to displace or usurp the Panchayat Act jurisdiction at issue.

The Court distinguished BDA development permission from the building-plan sanction issued by the Panchayat Samiti: BDA permission alone did not authorise construction, and the sanctioned plan had to be complied with.

Since the alleged illegality was construction contrary to that sanctioned plan, the Court considered the Panchayat Samiti the competent authority to address the violation under the 1973 Act; the BDA’s planning-area role and its powers under the 1979 Act did not confer jurisdiction to take over that demolition proceeding.

The Court further held that the BDA’s issuance of notices under the writ order did not defeat the appellant’s right to appeal, and that Section 137 of the 1979 Act did not justify the writ court’s direction.

It set aside the writ court’s order dated 20 March 2026 and restored the Panchayat Samiti’s order dated 6 October 2023 and the SDO’s order dated 15 October 2025.

Any interim orders were vacated, and the appeal was allowed.