New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (February 20) refused to entertain a contempt plea against Maharashtra authorities claiming they flouted top court’s order on demolition properties and asked the petitioner to move jurisdictional high court.
A bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih was hearing a plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings for allegedly flouting top court’s November 13 last year verdict on demolition of properties.
Petitioner could move high court with his grievance: Apex Court
The bench told the petitioner’s counsel that the petitioner could move the jurisdictional high court with his grievance.
“Why don’t you go to the high court? We can’t monitor everything here,” Justice Gavai told the counsel.
The bench, during the hearing, asked the counsel representing the petitioner to show it the sanction plan.
The counsel said that he would have to seek instructions.
“We are not inclined to entertain the present petition. If the petitioner is aggrieved, he can very well approach the jurisdictional high court,” the bench said and added, “Had you shown us the sanction plan, we would have entertained.”
What did the petitioner submit?
The counsel said that petitioner was the owner of the said land and had installed a tin shed there and he was given only a day’s notice by the authorities. The counsel further said that the high court had taken a view in a batch of petitions over the demolition of properties few kilometers away from his property that those structures were illegal.
“Our order (on demolition of properties) also says that our judgement would not be applicable if the structures are on public roads,” the bench said.
What did the apex court say in its last year order?
The top court in its November 13 last year verdict passed a slew of directions and laid down pan-India guidelines on the use of bulldozers by state governments for demolition of properties of accused of crimes as a punitive measures without following due procedure of law and ordered that no demolition should be carried out without prior show cause notice. It, however, had said that its directions wouldn’t apply to unauthorised structures in a public spaces.
