Himachal Pradesh High Court: A Division Bench of Surya Kant, C.J. and Sandeep Sharma, J. dismissed a petition on not finding a valid or justifiable reason for not constructing the road.
In the pertinent matter a portion of the road which was yet to be constructed already vested in the State free from all encumbrance as the persons interested gifted their lands and executed formal gift deeds in their favour. Moreover, the requisite budget had also been allocated for the construction of the road. However, only because a certain section of people had raised objection who wanted the alignment of the road to be changed, the construction work was put to halt.
The Court was of the opinion that it was not a valid ground for not constructing the road and held, “Once the public path has been demarcated and land vests in the State, there can possibly be no impediment by any private person against the construction of the road”.[Devi Singh v. State of H.P., 2019 SCC OnLine HP 577, Order dated 07-05-2019]