The Supreme Court has laid down strict guidelines for bulldozing operations. The Supreme Court’s ruling was based on an application filed by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind against the Delhi Municipal Corporation. The country’s largest court said bulldozers can operate but using them on someone’s house or property without following procedures set out in the law is unconstitutional and illegal. The Supreme Court said that a crime committed by one person cannot punish his entire family. This is inhumane. Officials cannot act arbitrarily in this matter. The court said that if a house or property is to be demolished, the owner must be given at least 15 days’ notice. Landlords must be given ample opportunity to present their side. Hearing must be accomplished through appearance. It then has to be told what is missing from its response and on what basis running the bulldozer is the only option.
The Supreme Court also said that the entire process from issuance of notification to demolition of houses should be transparent and there should be complete video recording of the bulldozer movements. A bench of Justice BR and Justice KV Vishwanathan said that if any official ignores these guidelines, contempt proceedings will be initiated against him. If convicted, the official would have to rebuild the demolished house at his own expense. The Supreme Court struck a stern tone. The guidelines set out are very clear and the entire process has been decided.
There are two things to understand about the Supreme Court’s decision. First, the courts did not halt the bulldozing campaign. Only guidelines have been issued. Secondly, there is also a 15-day advance notice requirement for bulldozing operations. Earlier, the defendants were also given an opportunity to make their submissions. There is a right of appeal. The Supreme Court is simply trying to ensure that the bulldozers’ actions should not be rushed, should be done in accordance with the prescribed procedures and should be transparent.
The effect of this is that if any crime occurs today, bulldozers will not be able to run on the defendant’s house tomorrow. It would take fifteen days for the bulldozers to arrive. As for the bulldozing action taken before today, I have some data. According to him, after 2017, more than 2,000 bulldozing operations took place in seven states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat. But it was the actions taken during Yogi Adityanath’s rule that were most discussed. Because Yogi destroyed the properties of mafia and thugs with complete arrogance. All the mafia like Mukhtar Ansari, Atiq Ahmed, Vikas Dubey, Vijay Mishra bulldozed the illegal properties and built houses for the poor on that land.
The Supreme Court ruling has nothing to do with the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh government was not a party to the application on which the court had decided. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has filed a case against the Delhi Municipal Corporation, but at a time when political rhetoric takes over, the Uttar Pradesh government welcomed the Supreme Court’s evening ruling. A UP government spokesman said the decision would make it easier to control the mafia and professional criminals. This means there will be no softening of the Yogi’s attitude. (Rajat Sharma)
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