SURESH CHANDRA MAHARANA & ORS. vs UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2025 Supreme(Online)(SC) 11269

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
PANKAJ MITHAL, JOYMALYA BAGCHI, JJ
SURESH CHANDRA MAHARANA & ORS. – Appellant
Versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. – Respondent

Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mr. Ashok Kumar Pradhan, Sr. Adv., Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR, Mr. Manoranjan Paikaray, Adv., Mr. Aniruddha Purushotham, Adv., Mr. Shashwat Panda, Adv.
For the Respondents:Ms. Rashi Bansal, AOR, Mr. Vikramjeet Banerjee, A.S.G., Mr. Nachiketa Joshi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Amit Sharma B, Adv., Mr. Gibran Naushad, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Sarkar, Adv., Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR, Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR, Mr. A D N Rao, Sr. Adv., Mr. Annam Venkatesh, AOR, Mr. Bomma Reddy Venkata Krishna, Adv., Mr. Rahul Mishra, Adv., Ms. Agrimaa Singh, Adv., Mr. Satyarth Singh, Adv., Mr. Pitambar Acharya, Advocate General, Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR, Ms. Visakha Raghuram, Adv., Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.

Table of Content
1. permission granted for construction over a protected area. (Para 3 , 4)

O R D E R

2. Leave granted.

4. The said order was assailed by means of a writ petition that has been dismissed by the order impugned dated 15.04.2019. The High Court has dismissed the said writ petition primarily on two counts: that it sees no Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by reason to interfere with the order when the same has geeta ahuja Date: 2025.08.21

been passed pursuant to the direction of the Supreme Court of India relegating the matter to the appropriate authority, i.e., Director General, ASI for fresh consideration of the permission, if necessary; secondly, the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in this regard was got dismissed as withdrawn and as such, it operates as res judicata.

6. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we set aside the impugned order dated 15.04.2019 and remand the matter to the High Court for decision afresh in accordance with law as to whether the permission granted for construction on the protected area by the Director General, ASI is valid in law or is anyway illegal. The High Court shall consider the matter most expeditiously preferably

Click Here to Read the rest of this document

2025 Supreme(Online)(SC) 11269

SUPREME COURT OF INDIAPANKAJ MITHAL, JOYMALYA BAGCHI, JJSURESH CHANDRA MAHARANA & ORS. – AppellantVersusUNION OF INDIA & ORS. – Respondent

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
PANKAJ MITHAL, JOYMALYA BAGCHI, JJ
SURESH CHANDRA MAHARANA & ORS. – Appellant
Versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. – Respondent