CHANDIGARH, MAY 22 — Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira faces a ₹6 lakh judicial penalty following a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision to reject his petition concerning the alleged blockade of a village panchayat street.
The ruling addresses a community dispute in Ramgarh village, where residents complained about a gate restricting movement on a public thoroughfare. The court directed that the fine be distributed among the named respondents, with provisions for recovery through land revenue mechanisms if left unpaid.
“Today’s verdict of the High Court has proved that Sukhpal Singh Khaira himself was sitting like a land mafia over government land while pointing fingers at others,” Baltej Pannu, the state media head for the Aam Aadmi Party, stated in a media briefing.
State records presented during the proceedings, including SVAMITVA land mapping data and local civic reports, confirmed that the passage was constructed using public resources for village welfare. The judicial bench observed that blocking such paths creates critical hazards for essential civic operations.
The bench further commented on the nature of the filing, observing that the legal presentation attempted to shift focus away from simple property encroachment toward a violation of procedural norms. The court declared that its jurisdiction could not be leveraged to handle partisan conflicts.
Pannu asserted that the MLA had used his position to interfere with administrative teams during initial enforcement efforts. He maintained that the decision reveals a pattern of misleading claims regularly shared by the opposition leader.
