‘You can’t come with bulldozers and demolish houses overnight’: SC tells UP government | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday appealed the illegal demolition of houses carried out on the pretext of road widening by the Uttar Pradesh government. Terming the state’s actions as “high-handed” and “without authority of law”, the court ordered the government to pay Rs 25 lakh as punitive compensation to each affected family.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, emphasized that the state cannot undermine the rights of citizens without adhering to due process.
“You can’t come with bulldozers and demolish houses overnight. You don’t give family time to leave. What about household items? Due process must be followed,” Justice Pardiwala said during the hearing .
Besides damages, the court directed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to initiate a disciplinary inquiry against the officials responsible for the unlawful demolition.
This directive came during the hearing in a 2020 suo motu case, following a letter from Manoj Tibrewal Aakash, whose house was demolished in 2019. Aakash alleged that his property was razed without notice, ostensibly due to alleged encroachment on a highway.
When the state authorities argued that the petitioner had encroached on public land, Chief Justice Chandrachud questioned the proportionality of their response.
“You say he was a 3.7 square meter robber. We take it, we don’t give him a certificate for it, but how can you start demolishing people’s houses like that? This is lawlessness…walking into someone’s house. .” said the Chief Justice.
The court found that authorities circumvented standard legal protocols, citing affidavits confirming that no formal notice had been issued. Instead, residents were reportedly informed of the demolition via loudspeakers on site, a measure that the court found inadequate and arbitrary.
“You can’t just beat a drum telling people to leave their homes and then continue with the demolition. There should be proper notice,” the bench added.
A National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report submitted to the court found that the scale of demolition far exceeded the alleged infringement, further highlighting the lack of oversight and procedural fairness in the state’s actions.
Issuing guidelines for all states and Union Territories, the Supreme Court outlined the steps to be followed before removing encroachments on road widening projects.
Authorities are now required to determine the current road width, formally notify residents of any infringements and give them the opportunity to object. Any adverse decisions should be supported by reasoned orders, giving affected residents sufficient time to vacate.