The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the State authorities to conclude eviction proceedings over alleged encroachments at the ancient Shri Vishnu Barah Mandir in Majhauli, Jabalpur district, preferably within three months. The direction came in a PIL seeking the monument's conservation and protection. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 437]

With the aforementioned directions, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Alpesh Y. Kogje and Justice Vivek Jain disposed of the PIL. 

"However, considering the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner for a time bound programme by which the eviction proceedings could be concluded and considering the fact that the battle has been going on since many years, the Court deems it fit to direct the Authorities to conclude the eviction proceedings as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three months from today."

Previously, the court had directed the State to file an affidavit disclosing the current status of the Shri Vishnu Barah Mandir temple located in Majhauli. The State was further directed to file an affidavit disclosing the current status of the Shri Vishnu Barah Mandir temple located in Majhauli.

The plea claims that the temple was declared a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 by the State via a notification published on August 14, 1981. Per the provisions of this Act, any person who destroys, removes, alters, defaces, or misuses a protected monument is liable for punishment with imprisonment or a fine, or both.

Additionally, as per Rule 28, a radius of 100 meters surrounding the monument was declared a prohibited area, and the zone between 100 and 200 meters was designated as a regulated area. Thus, within 300 meters of the monument, no construction, mining, or agricultural activities could be carried out.

The petition further states that eviction notices were issued to the alleged encroachers. However, one of the encroachers approached the Civil Court, which dismissed the suit but made certain observations regarding encroachment.

The petition alleged that despite observations regarding encroachment, the police and state authorities failed to take any action, while relying on photographs to show encroachers running illegal shops in prohibited and regulated areas.

For Petitioner: Advocates Priyank Shandilya, Deepak Tiwari, Anupam Chaturvedi and Gaurav Tiwari

For State: Government Advocate Anubhav Jain