The Calcutta High Court has restrained the authorities from carrying out further demolition of Jahangir Khan's residential house after finding that the State had not established that hearing notices were served on him, despite his being in custody at the relevant time.

Justice Suvra Ghosh directed the State to produce videographic evidence of the alleged affixation of notices at Khan's house, after his counsel questioned whether the notices had actually been served at the residence. The Court directed that the matter be listed again on November 16, 2026, and restrained the respondents from proceeding with further demolition in the meantime.

Khan has been in custody since June 8, 2026. His counsel submitted that his wife had also subsequently been taken into custody, while their son was unable to reside in the house because it had been vandalised and threats had been made to his life and property. The house was allegedly lying vacant and damaged, and documents kept there, including the sanctioned building plan, had been stolen.

It was further submitted that although Khan's son had mentioned the house as his residential address in an affidavit filed with the writ petition, he was presently residing elsewhere. Khan allegedly learnt about the demolition through social media only after the demolition work had commenced.

The petitioner contended that no hearing notice had been served on him at the correctional home. He also questioned the State's claim that notices had been affixed at a conspicuous place at his residence, arguing that the photographs produced by the State did not establish that the house belonged to him. Further, no local witness had signed the report prepared by the person who allegedly affixed the notices.

Opposing the plea, the Advocate General submitted that several hearing notices had been issued to Khan by the Hearing Officer before the matter was taken up for consideration. According to the State, the notices had been affixed to the wall of his house and the process had also been videographed.

The State argued that Khan had failed to appear before either the Hearing Officer or the Executive Officer despite being granted several opportunities. The demolition order was subsequently passed after the Zilla Parishad affirmed that no sanctioned building plan had been issued in his favour for the construction in question.

The Advocate General further submitted that Khan had challenged only the Executive Officer's order and had not disputed the hearing conducted by the Hearing Officer.

After considering the rival submissions, Justice Ghosh noted that Khan's son had affirmed in an affidavit filed with the writ petition that he was a resident of the house, although the affidavit did not disclose his present place of residence.

The Court observed that several notices had apparently been issued under Section 160A(6) of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973, by the Hearing Officer as well as the Executive Officer.

However, it noted that Khan was admittedly in custody at the relevant time and no attempt had been made to serve notices on him at the correctional home.

“Though the authority submits that the authority was ignorant about the said fact, the issue needs to be dealt with at a later stage,” the Court observed.

The Court also took note of the fact that the report concerning affixation of the notices did not bear the signature of any local witness. Although the person who allegedly served the notices claimed to have consulted local residents, they were unable to provide any information about Khan and his family.

In view of these circumstances, the Court held that the State would have to substantiate service of hearing notices by both the Hearing Officer and the Executive Officer before further demolition of Khan's residential house could be permitted.

The Court directed the State to produce the videograph of the alleged affixation of notices and observed that the matter required further consideration after a detailed hearing.

The respondents were accordingly restrained from continuing with any further demolition of Jahangir Khan's residential house until the next hearing on November 16, 2026, at 2 PM.