SC to lay down guidelines on 'Bulldozer justice'

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday decided to lay down pan India guidelines to deal with "Bulldozer justice" in which some state authorities demolished the house and properties of a person just after he is accused of a crime.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vishwanathan said a pious father may have a recalcitrant son or vice versa and both should not be made to suffer consequences of each other's actions.

"Property of an accused or a suspect or even a convict can't be demolished. We will issue pan India guidelines. Apparently, there is a breach of rules," the bench observed.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta contended that the state governments acted only in case of violations of municipal laws.

Hearing a plea by Jamiat Ulama I Hind and others, the bench, however, said looking at the complaints, there is an apparently breach.

The court asked all the sides to come up suggestions and fixed the matter for consideration on September 17.

The petitioners were represented by senior advocates Dushyant Dave, C U Singh and others.

The bench emphasised that immovable properties can be razed only by the following the procedure.

According to the petitioners, the properties of persons accused of some crimes have been demolished, in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states.

Mehta, on his part, insisted that no immovable property can be demolished just because the accused is involved in a criminal offence. He maintained that demolition is only possible if the structure is illegal like the construction on pavements.

Mehta said action is only taken if there is a violation of municipal laws.

The bench asked why directions cannot be passed to avoid such demolition.

"If construction is unauthorised, fine. There has to be some streamlining. We will lay down a procedure. You are saying demolition only if violation of municipal laws. There is a need for guidelines," the bench said.

The court also suggested that a notice can be issued first and time can be given to answer it and time can also be given to seek legal remedies.

The court also clarified that it is not defending illegal structures and proposed to lay down guidelines for demolition across the country to resolve the issue.

The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath had earlier contended that the pleas by Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, are nothing but "proxy litigation" to protect illegal encroachments.

It had taken "strong exception" to the applicant’s naming the state’s highest constitutional functionaries and attempting to falsely label the local development authority’s lawful actions as a method of "collective retribution".

The state government said the pleas against the demolitions were filed to mislead courts as none of the affected party approached the judicial forum.