New Delhi: Forty-two years after Operation Blue Star “burnt, destroyed and demolished” their stores around the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar, 109 affected shopkeepers have been allotted alternate commercial sites at a heavily subsidised rate. The Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the Punjab government to fix the land rates at Rs 1000 per yard—the same amount fixed for land allotment to those affected by the 1988 beautification Galiara Scheme.
A division bench of Justices Jasgurpreet Singh Puri and Pravindra Singh Chauhan on 7 September expressed its anguish over the prolonged delay in granting relief to the shopkeepers who it referred to as “the sufferers/oustees of Blue Star Operation”. The court also recorded its distress over the plight of citizens who lost their livelihoods during the 10-day operation to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others from the Golden Temple.
“While dealing with the present four cases, we are actually at pains because the matter pertains to citizens of India, who were having their business adjoining Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar and were displaced during Operation Blue Star… It was 42 years ago that the aforesaid incident took place”, the judgement noted.
Evoking classical legal principles to underline the state’s duty, the court invoked the maxims “Let justice be done, though the heavens fall” and “It is in the interest of the State that there should be an end to litigation”. It firmly noted that it was “obligatory upon the State to have acted promptly for rehabilitation of displaced persons, which the State has failed to do so”.
Two tragedies: Unplanned eviction vs planned development
The court also noted the sharp contrast in treatment between the affected shopkeepers and those evicted later during municipal beautification drives. It observed that during the 1984 military action, curfew was clamped abruptly, leaving small shopkeepers and vendors with no opportunity to retrieve their inventory or belongings before their premises were destroyed and demolished.
In contrast, when the Punjab government introduced the Galiara Scheme in 1988 to beautify the surroundings of the Golden Temple, evictions were carried out in a planned and phased manner without destroying traders’ goods. Under the 1988 Galiara Scheme, commercial tenants were allotted alternate sites at a heavily subsidised rate of Rs 1,000 per square yard (against a prevailing market value of Rs 4,000 per square yard), alongside a 50 percent construction subsidy and low-interest installments.
The court observed that the 1984 Blue Star victims stood on a “much higher pedestal” because they were worse hit and evicted by force, yet they were left litigating without alternative sites for four decades.
Chronology of promises and bureaucratic stalls
The 37-page judgment outlined a lengthy timeline of state assurances that were repeatedly delayed. Five years after the operation, in May 1989, the Municipal Corporation of Amritsar submitted a list of private tenant shopkeepers affected by the 1984 action.
In November 1991, a high-level meeting chaired by the Punjab Chief Secretary decided that Operation Blue Star oustees would be rehabilitated “on the same lines as has been done in the case of Galiara corridor oustees”. In 1992, the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Amritsar confirmed that Blue Star oustees would receive allotment facilities on the same lines as those affected by the Galiara Scheme.
In October 2006, a meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary of the Department of Local Government reiterated that the same rehabilitation policy as the Galiara Scheme must be implemented.
However, six years later, in July 2012, the Punjab Cabinet departed from the earlier assurances, and approved allotment of 133 booths at the prevailing Collector rate of Rs 38,400 per square yard, costing Rs 10,36,800 per booth.
The court recorded that in 2015, the HC initially disposed of earlier writ petitions after the state offered land at Rs 38,400 per square yard. In 2017, however, the Supreme Court set aside that order and remanded the cases to the HC to adjudicate the rate dispute, directing petitioners to deposit Rs 10,000 per square yard in the interim.
In 2020 and 2026, although the Improvement Trust passed resolutions proposing a rate of Rs 14,450 per square yard, the state government rescinded them. A subsequent order by a coordinate bench of the HC in May 2026 noted that the Cabinet was reconsidering the rates, but no final policy emerged.
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Punjab govt opposed subsidised allotments
The Punjab government, represented by Senior Additional Advocate General Anu Chatrath, had opposed lowering the allotment rate in court. It argued that its 2012 Cabinet decision fixing the rate at Rs 38,400 per square yard was based strictly on the prevailing Collector rate of the area where the alternative booths were located and was fully in accordance with the law. The state maintained that it was ready to transfer the sites provided the petitioners paid the market-aligned price.
The bench rejected the justification, describing the demand for Rs 38,400 per square yard as “ex facie unfair, discriminatory and arbitrary”. It held that the state was bound by the doctrine of promissory estoppel (which stops a person from going back on a promise if another person relied on it and suffered harm) and constitutional principles of fairness under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.
Citing landmark Supreme Court precedents, the HC emphasised that the government must maintain a “high standard of rectangular rectitude while dealing with its citizens” and cannot go back on the assurances given in 1991 and 2006. It ruled that creating an artificial distinction between the 1984 Blue Star oustees and the 1988 Galiara oustees violated equality guarantees.
Exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, the HC ordered that all eligible Operation Blue Star oustees be allotted commercial booths/sites at Rs 1,000 per square yard, matching the Galiara Scheme rate, along with all other concessions and subsidies granted under the scheme.
It also ordered the Punjab government to offer alternate sites at the same rate to five eligible victims who had been excluded from earlier draws due to site non-availability.
The Rs 10,000 per square yard deposited by petitioners following the Supreme Court’s interim order will be adjusted against the final cost, with the court ordering any excess to be refunded by the state along with accrued interest. The 18 individuals who had already paid the full price of Rs 38,400 per square yard will not be disturbed, the court said.
The entire allotment process, including registration of sale deeds and physical delivery of possession, must be completed within two months.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)
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