The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for demolishing houses of Muslims in Prayagraj in 2021 without providing sufficient time for the homeowner to contest the action, stating that such measures send a “shocking and wrong signal.”
The court was hearing the petition filed by advocate Zulfiqar Haider, professor Ali Ahmed, two widows, and another individual after the Allahabad High Court dismissed their plea against the demolition, the Live Law reported.
The petitioners argued that authorities issued demolition notices late on a Saturday night and proceeded to demolish their homes the following day, affording them no opportunity to contest the action. They have also argued that they were lawful lessees of the land and had applied to convert their leasehold rights into freehold property.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the state had wrongly linked their land to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was killed in 2023.
The bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice N Kotiswar Singh expressed strong disapproval, citing the Supreme Court’s recent judgment which has laid down the procedure to be followed before demolition.
“There is something called Article 21,” the court reminded.
Justice Oka remarked that the court will now order the state to reconstruct the demolished structures, “Now we will order reconstruction at your cost, that is the only way to do this.”
Attorney General R Venkataramani appeared for the state argued that the petitioners had enough time to respond to the notices.
Justice Oka questioned the manner in which the notice was served. The bench observed that there are inconsistencies in the State’s claim on the manner of sending notice.
The Supreme Court refused the Attorney General’s suggestion that the matter should be remanded to the High Court for consideration, stating that sending it back would only cause unnecessary delays.
The petitioners have contended that they were not trespassers but lessees who had applied for conversion of their leasehold interest into freehold.
A demolition notice was issued to them on March 1, 2021, served on March 6, 2021, and the demolition was carried out on March 7, 2021, without giving them a reasonable opportunity to challenge it before the appellate authority under Section 27(2) of the UP Urban Planning and Development Act.
The petitioners, including a lawyer and a professor, whose entire library was demolished, contended that the Allahabad High Court dismissed their plea based on a letter dated September 15, 2020, without allowing them to contest it.
Earlier, the Allahabad High Court noted that the disputed demolition involved a Nazul Plot in Prayagraj, leased in 1906, with the lease expiring in 1996, and applications for freehold conversion rejected in 2015 and 2019 and dismissed the petitions, concluding the petitioners had no legal rights since their transactions lacked the District Collector’s approval.
