‘No home can be demolished without due process’: Allahabad HC halts demolition of 27 houses in Bareilly

Meerut: Stressing that "no home can be demolished without due process", a division bench of justices Ajit Kumar and Satyavir Singh of Allahabad high court (HC) stayed the demolition of 27 houses in Bareilly's Shahabad area in Prem Nagar, directing the civic authorities not to take any coercive action "until the competent authority passes a final order."The bench disposed of the writ with clear directions -- "Each petitioner must file an individual reply within four weeks, and the competent authority (civic body) must decide the matter within two months by issuing a reasoned, speaking order after granting a personal hearing. Until then — or for three months, whichever is earlier — no demolition may take place. The order was to be communicated to Bareilly officials." A copy of the order has been accessed by TOI.The case reached the court after residents received notices on Oct 9, declaring their homes "illegal" and ordering them to vacate and raze their structures within 15 days. The petitioners argued that the Bareilly Municipal Corporation (BMC) collected taxes for years, contradicting its own claim on its legality.Although the HC issued its stay order on Nov 13, BMC officials said the order took some time to reach them via official channels. "We were aware of it, but the formal copy takes time and hence no action took place," municipal commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Maurya told TOI on Saturday. The petitioners received the order on Dec 2, and the residents thereafter rushed with their requests to the civic authority to halt the exercise."It is indeed a big relief for now as we thought bulldozers would roll in anytime to make us homeless. Hope things work in our favour in future too," said Rukhsana Parveer, a resident.In Oct, the BMC issued notices to the residents stating that the 27 homes were built illegally on municipal land and warned them that FIRs and recovery of demolition costs may follow. The action came in the backdrop of the Sept 26 violence near Islamia Grounds during protests over the ‘I Love Muhammad' row, after which authorities launched crackdowns on alleged illegal structures and violations linked to local cleric Tauqeer Raza and his aides.A similar direction was issued by the Supreme Court on Thursday. The top court had ordered an immediate pause on the demolition of ‘Aiwan-e-Farhat', a marriage hall owned by Farhat Jahan and her husband Sarfaraz Wali Khan, in Bareilly, granting them a "seven-day" relief. The apex court asked the petitioners to approach Allahabad HC, directing "no further demolition should take place until then".(Inputs from Krishna Chaudhary & Asif Ansari)