No infringement without due process: SC – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned state and Union government authorities from using bulldozers to demolish encroachments or illegal structures for road projects across India without following due process, including serving a prior notice, conducting a court ruling and waiting for court decisions.
The days of announcing removal of encroachments or illegal structures with drum beats or loudspeakers are over, said a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra criticizing the Uttar Pradesh government for high-handedness after the Maharajganj collector house had been demolished to widen NH-703. “Private properties need some protection and some liability must be established for those who resort to demolition using state power,” the Supreme Court said.
Awarding interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the person whose house was demolished, the bench directed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to initiate a probe into the illegal demolition work carried out by the collector, other officials and the contractor in 2019 carried out.
The person had written a letter to the Supreme Court on October 4, 2019, regarding incidents of illegal demolitions, which were taken up suo motu by the court. The last hearing took place on January 4, 2021.
Nearly four years later, the Supreme Court dusted off the file, noting that no material had been provided by the counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government, Tulika Mukherjee, to justify the demolition, which involved 123 houses, including that of the complainant, for a road widening project.
The counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government had also simultaneously written a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which like the district commissioner had given an adverse verdict against the collector.
Senior advocate Siddharth Bhatnagar told the court that the directions of the National Human Rights Commission for initiating proceedings against violators have not yet been followed and no compensation has been paid to petitioner Manoj Tibrewal Akash for the illegal demolition of his ancestral house.
Repeatedly referring to the actions of the Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat as wayward, the Supreme Court bench comprising the Chief Justice has issued guidelines for authorities across India to follow in removing unauthorized and illegal constructions and encroachments on road projects.