All types of construction in gram sabha land across the country are illegal as the land is meant for common public purposes, the supreme court has ruled and directed all states to forthwith demolish the unauthorised structures on them and evict the encroachers.

A bench of justices Markandeya Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra, while passing the direction, asked chief secretaries of the states and union territories to comply with the orders and file periodical compliance reports to the effect.

"In many states, government orders have been issued by permitting allotment of gram sabha land to private persons and commercial enterprises on payment of money. In our opinion, all such government orders are illegal, and should be ignored," the bench said in a written order.

The apex court passed the direction while dismissing the appeal of Jaswant Singh who challenged his eviction from a gram panchayat land in Rohar village of Punjab's Patiala district.

Noting that gram sabha land are meant for preserving water bodies, children's play ground, community centres, etc, the apex court asked the states to forthwith demolish all unauthorised structures at these places constructed by politicians, goonda and influential elements and restore it to the gram sabhas.

"In this connection, we wish to say that our ancestors were not fools. They knew that in certain years there may be drought or water shortage for some other reason and water was also required for cattle to drink and bath in etc. Hence, they built a pond attached to every village, a tank attached to every temple, etc. These were their traditional rain-water harvesting methods which served them for thousands of years.