New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation to the petitioner for illegal demolition of his ancestral property and a shop.
The Apex Court lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh State authorities for the demolition of the petitioner's house without issuing a notice.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra expressed serious dissatisfaction with the conduct of the authorities, terming their acts "high-handed."
The CJI said, “You say that he was an encroacher of 3.7 sqm, we take it, we are not giving him a certificate for it, but how can you start demolishing people's houses like that? this is lawlessness.. walking into somebody's house.'
Justice Chandrachud said, “This is completely high-handed, where is the due process followed? We have affidavit that says no notice was issued, you only went to the site and informed the people.”
The CJI further said, “We may be inclined to award punitive compensation to your client. Would that serve the ends of justice?”
The Petitioner’s Counsel urged for an inquiry into the matter.
He asked, “How many houses were demolished?
The state Counsel replied, “There were 123 illegal constructions.”
Justice Pardiwala asked, “What is the basis for you to say it was unauthorised? what have you done since 1960? what have you been doing for the past 50 years? very high-handed, the state has to show some respect to the NHRC orders, you sit tight and are protecting the actions of an officer.
A Suo Motu case was admitted by the Supreme Court on the letter addressed by Manoj Tibrewal complaining of the demolition of his ancestral house and shop located in ward no.16 in Mohalla Hamidnagar.
Tibrewal alleged that his house was demolished without serving him any notice on the grounds that he had encroached on just 3.7 sq meters of government land.
Was the Notice issued? Justice Chandrachud asked the district magistrate and SP of Maharajganj district.
The CJI noted that in pursuance of the proceedings before the court, counters have been filed followed by rejoinder.
'You can't bulldoze houses overnight', he said and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay Rs 25 Lakh interim compensation for the illegal demolition.
The Court also directed to initiate disciplinary inquiry against the officers liable for illegal demolitions.
