NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government assured the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it will not take any action on the demolition notices issued against buildings owned by some accused in the October 13 Bahraich violence.
The state government has said that the authorities won't take any action till October 23, Wednesday
At the same time, the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear the plea filed by the three accused individuals on October 23. They are seeking urgent relief against the demolition action proposed to be taken against their houses.
Hearing the mentioning, the Supreme Court allowed the plea of senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, who represented the petitioners and sought an urgent hearing in the case.
"This is an application filed by three (accused) persons who are the recipients of demolition notices. The state (UP) government has given only three days to respond to the notices," Singh told the two-judge bench of the apex court, led by Justice B R Gavai and also comprising Justice K V Viswanathan.
During the hearing, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, senior law officer appearing for the UP govt, said that no action will be taken till Wednesday.
He also submitted that the Allahabad High Court is also seized of the matter. On urgent hearing, the High Court on Sunday granted 15 more days to the affected persons to respond to the notices issued by the UP authorities.
Hearing the submissions of Nataraj, the apex court remarked, that if they (UP authorities) want to take the risk of flouting our order, it's their choice.
Three persons alleged to be related to the incident of violence that took place at Bahraich on October 13, had approached the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking urgent relief against demolition action proposed to be taken against their houses.
The application was filed in the top court by three persons (named in the FIRs registered related to the Bahraich incident and/or as relatives of the accused), stating that on October 18, Assistant Engineer, PWD, Bahraich pasted 23 backdated notices dated October 17, on the shops/houses of residents of Maharajganj, Mahsi area, Bahraich, including the applicants, where the incident took place.
The applicants, hawkers, farmers and small traders by occupation, claim that the properties for which notices have been issued are 10-70 years old.
"The proposed action is punitive and the government's defence of unauthorized construction is merely a ruse to illegally overcome the Court's stay order on demolitions," they said in their potion filed before the apex court.
Earlier in one of the hearings, the apex court, while hearing a bulldozer justice matter, had made it clear that the house of a person cannot be demolished merely because he is an accused. The stand of the UP government during the proceedings was that houses of persons cannot be demolished merely because they are accused of a crime.
The apex court had also suggested and decided to lay down pan-India guidelines to prevent the abuse of municipal laws, without protecting unauthorised constructions, and recently it had also reserved the order in the matter.
The case of Bahraich pertains to a procession that was going on October 13 for immersion of Goddess Durga idol was being carried out in the Maharajganj area of Bahraich, when some local members of a particular community objected to the playing of loud music, following which violence allegedly erupted.
The plea sought appropriate directions on the ground that the court had already said that it would lay down guidelines on the issue and the UP government order is thereby illegal.
"The trigger for the proposed demolitions notices is the close proximity of the communal flare-up and violence incident. The urgency shown and the short three days time that has been given to respond to the Notice when the applicants have been occupying the house/shops for decades. The short time of three days to respond to the notice denies reasonable opportunity and time to the applicants to seek legal remedy," the plea said.
