Supreme Court Refuses Petition Against Construction Of War Memorial At Dehradun

The Supreme Court today came down on a petitioner before it who challenged the Uttarakhand Government's decision to construct a war memorial in the name and style of 'Sainya Dham' at Guniyal Gaon, Pargana Pachhuwa Doon, District Dehradun.

"Have some respect for those who have sacrificed their lives...," CJI Surya Kant told the petitioner Vikesh Singh Negi.

Negi approached the Supreme Court after his plea was dismissed by the Uttarakhand High Court in January this year. Negi argued before the high court that without ascertaining true nature of land, the state government had taken said decision.

It was alleged that land over which war memorial is proposed to be constructed is forest land, therefore, it cannot be used for any other purpose. Advocate General had informed the High Court that construction of war memorial began in 2021 and construction was almost complete and it is likely to be inaugurated very soon in coming months.

A bench of Justices Subhash Upadhyay and Manoj Kumar Tiwari had found no grounds to interfere with the construction of the Memorial.

Negi had sought stopping of all construction activities relating to 'Sainya Dham - Defence/War Memorial' on the land in question, arguing it was in contravention to the laws as laid down in Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and directing the respondents to transfer the entire allocated land demarcated for the construction of the Memorial to Forest Department, Uttarakhand.

He had further sought directions to identify, demarcate, and restore all encroached forest land, and to take coercive action against encroachers strictly in accordance with law.

Directions to initiate disciplinary and criminal proceedings against erring officials found responsible for dereliction of duty, collusion, or abuse of official position were also sought.

The Advocate General had drawn the High Court's attention to joint survey report which stated that a joint survey was done by Revenue as well as Forest authorities and it was signed by Forest Range Officer, Raipur Range and Forester, Rajpur Section besides Revenue Sub-Inspector and Tehsildar of concerned area.

High Court had noted that in the said Joint Inspection Report, it was mentioned that land in question, over which war memorial is being constructed, is not part of forest land and, in fact, it is mentioned therein that Forest authorities do not have any objection against allotment of land for construction of war memorial.

Case Title: Vikesh Singh Negi vs. State of Uttarakhand and Others

Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Pancholi

Hearing Date: March 12, 2026