In Brief
The Supreme Court held that when a municipal corporation demolishes a structure in violation of prescribed procedure, an illegal structure cannot be reconstructed, even though the demolition itself was procedurally defective. While the Court does not approve procedural violations by authorities, it rejected the practice of directing reconstruction as a remedy. Compensation may be awarded to owners, recoverable from erring officials, but illegal structures must remain demolished. Only legal structures—determined after clear findings on dimensions and compliance with bylaws—may be reconstructed with proper permissions. The Court directed municipal corporations to use geomapping technology to document illegal constructions and issued comprehensive procedural guidelines for future demolitions.
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