No pause on demolitions across country: Supreme Court

New Delhi, July 13: There will be no pause on the demolitions across states, the Supreme Court has said while emphasising that such a move will curtail the rights of municipal authorities.

The court made the observations while hearing a petition by Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind against the demolition exercises in some states. The Muslim body alleged that the drive specifically targeted members of the minority community.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government. In its reply to the court, the UP government had said that the demolition drives were routine exercises to remove encroachments.

The court has also sought replies from the Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh government where demolition drives have also been undertaken. The matter will come up for hearing next on August 10.

Appearing for the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind advocates Dushyant Dave and C U Singh said that the authorities are picking and choosing and demolishing homes of people from the other community.

They also argued that taking advantage of the municipal corporations to demolish homes is not right. Dave also submitted that there is a pattern of demolitions across the country, after every communal incident. This is against the structure of democracy and not good for us as a society.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta while responding to the arguments said that there is no other community as pointed out by the petitioners and all communities are Indian communities.

Mehta stressed that there is no connection between the demolitions and rioting and that all anti-encroachment exercises started long before the riots. Unnecessary and sensational hype must not be created, he added.

The counsel for the UP government urged the court not to impose a blanket ban on demolition as the rule of law needed to be followed. Not every riot accused can be protected from demolitions under a blanket order, he also said.