In Brief
The Supreme Court addressed whether family members of original encroachers on Government land can be disqualified from serving as Panchayat members under the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1958. The appellants were not themselves encroachers but beneficiaries of their father's/grandfather's encroachment. The Court held that disqualification applies only to the person who made the original encroachment, not to family members or beneficiaries. The Court noted that where the legislature intended family-based disqualification, it explicitly provided so (as in other clauses). Courts cannot expand statutory language through interpretation to achieve laudable public policy goals without clear legislative intention. However, those punished for or finally evicted for encroachment remain disqualified. The appeals were allowed and impugned judgments set aside.
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