The Meghalaya High Court today disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to stop the demolition and conserve the Assam-type colonial structure of the St. Anthony’s Lower Primary School.
Granting forgiveness, the court also disposed of criminal contempt proceedings against five individuals of the Don Bosco Technical School Shillong management.
A division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh passed an order with a rider that the management should strictly comply with its February 24 order to rebuild the school with the plan and architecture similar to the demolished one.
The management is not allowed to create any third party rights by transfer, creating encumbrance or parting with possession of the property without the leave of the Court and that if the approved plan has to be revised, it should be duly approved by the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority, the court said.
The court appreciated the “pleasing and submissive manner” of senior advocate S. Chakrawarty in the affidavit filed by the five individuals praying for forgiveness.
According to the court the alleged contemnors are respectable Christian priests belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco Order and running the heritage institution.
The court said that Jesus Christ taught to forgive a wrongdoer and preached that the satisfaction one gets out of forgiveness is much more than what is reached by inflicting the pain of punishment. “To our knowledge Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism also have similar precepts. It becomes more relevant when the wrongdoer is genuinely remorseful and pleads for forgiveness,” the court added.
“In the exercise of contempt jurisdiction, we have the option of punishing the alleged contemnors or forgiving them. The prerogative of forgiving even an unacceptable act is with the Court,” the division bench said.
On a question why the management had to demolish the school during the vacation of the Court, the alleged contemnors in the affidavit said they had and have no intention of disobeying the orders. Since the building was found tilting on January 4, 2025 they had to demolish it to prevent danger to life and property and could not approach the court.
However, the court said, “We do not find this explanation wholly convincing.”
