Supreme Court junks contempt plea alleging bulldozer demolitions in UP, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a contempt of court plea related to alleged punitive demolition of properties in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan[National Federation of Indian Women v. Rakesh Kumar Singh and Others]..The Bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan said that the petitioner National Federation of Indian Women cannot be said to be an aggrieved party and thus dismissed the plea."You are third party. What is your grievance? Let affected ones come, we will take. This will open flood of litigations," Justice Gavai reasoned..The contempt plea alleged that there was violation of the top court’s order staying demolitions of properties of accused without prior permission.The plea cited three instances of demolitions from Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Jaipur in Rajasthan and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The district magistrates of the three cities were made party to the contempt plea.“Even if the concerned State Authorities were of the opinion that the structures were illegal, the said structures were not covered by the categories carved out by this Hon’ble Court as exceptions to the general prohibition on demolition imposed viz. unauthorized structures in any public place such as road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies or cases where there is an order for demolition made by a Court of law,” the plea argued..However, the Court dismissed the plea saying those aggrieved can themselves approach it. It rejected the argument those suffering do not have access to Court.Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, also submitted that the plea was filed on the basis of newspaper reports..Pertinently, the top court has reserved its decision on a batch of petitions seeking directions to the Central and State governments to refrain from bulldozing homes or shops of accused in criminal proceedings as an extra-legal punitive measure.The interim order passed by it earlier to ban authorities from demolishing properties of those suspected of criminal activities without first seeking the Court's permission, continues to remain in operation.