OBSTRUCTING PATHWAY INCLUDED IN PANCHAYATH ASSET REGISTER - Legal Issues : Short Article

OBSTRUCTING PATHWAY 
INCLUDED IN PANCHAYATH ASSET REGISTER 

- Legal Issues 

Obstructing a person's access to the public road is illegal, arbitrary, and violative of the fundamental right to property and  the right to life guaranteed under Article 300A and Article 21 of the Constitution of India, respectively.  As per Section 169 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, all public roads in a Panchayat area (not being under the control of the Government or other local authorities) vest in the Village Panchayat. The Panchayat is statutorily mandated to maintain, repair, and protect such roads from encroachment. 

The Panchayath authorities are under a mandatory statutory duty as per Section 170 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, to remove any unauthorized obstruction or encroachment on a public road. The failure of the to do so, constitutes a gross dereliction of official duty.

It is a settled principle of law that once a pathway is entered in the Asset Register of the Panchayat, it assumes the character of a public road. In Kurian Paul V. Inspector of Police 2023 2 KHC 275 Honourable High Court of Kerala  held that the Asset Register is a statutory document maintained under Kerala Panchayath Raj (Accounts0 Rules 2011 and its entries are presumed to be correct unless established otherwise. Further, the local authority has a statutory obligation to ensure that public pathways are kept free from encroachments.   The Honourable High Court in Mariam Beevi V. Secretary Athirampuzha Gramapanchayath and others 2015 3 KHC 199 held that once a private road is meant to connect properties and becomes part of network of roads, it serves a public purpose and ceases to have exclusivity.

Sherry J Thomas

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