Pinnacle court stays demolition drive in Jahangirpuri for 2 weeks

21-03-2022

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a 2-week long stay against the demolition drive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri, thereby posting the hearing within the relate a later date.

The apex court said that it'll take a heavy view of the matter if it finds that the demolition drive in Delhi continued on Wednesday despite its orders to halt the drive and maintain establishment.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the North Delhi MC, told the court that the drive against removal of encroachments by Hindus and Muslims was distributed to get rid of obstruction of roads and footpaths.

He further added that it had been the fifth day of the drive which was had originally started on January 19. 

The 2-judge bench of Justices LN Rao and BR Gavai, hearing the case, asked whether footpath and public road encroachments by stalls required bulldozers, to which the SG said that any building which faced demolition action had been placed on prior notice and also the drive was administrated without breach of any law.

Mehta also added, "Let any affected person come and tell the highest court whether he has not been given prior notice and whether their encroachments were demolished simply because they participated in communal riots."

He told the highest court that the matter arises when an organisation like Jamiat files a petition sensationalising the difficulty on communal lines so the whole political spectrum jumps in to reap mileage. "Why features a single affected party not come to the SC or filed a petition in Delhi HC," he asked. 

Mehta said similarly the Khargone demolition drive has been criminalised by the political parties. In Khargone, among the affected parties, 88 were Hindus and 26 were Muslims. "Yet, as in Jahangirpuri case, the political parties communalism the incident," Mehta said.