Jahangirpuri demolition drive: The Supreme Court orders the status quo and says it will take a serious look at the demolition carried out after the order

*Paromita Das

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to maintain the status quo and halt the demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area “until further orders,” and adjourned the case for two weeks.

The Supreme Court ruled that MCD could not continue with its demolition campaign until further orders were issued. On the mentioning of Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, a bench led by the Chief Justice of India ordered the status quo. “Something serious necessitates your prompt intervention. This is about a completely unconstitutional and illegal demolition that was ordered in the Jahangirpuri area, where riots occurred last week. There has been no notification.
The Municipal Corporation Act includes an appeals provision. We’ve submitted a provisional application (before SC). It was supposed to begin at 2 p.m., but they began demolition at 9 a.m. today, knowing that we would mention it.” Dave submitted.

On April 20, a bench led by CJI NV Ramanna halted the demolition drive and scheduled a hearing for Thursday in the case filed by the affected people. A bench of Justice L N Rao and Justice Gavai heard the case of alleged illegal demolition in Delhi on Thursday.

The bench took serious note of the issue and stated that, despite the Supreme Court’s stay on demolitions, the demolition of Jahangirpuri was carried out. “We will take seriously the fact that demolitions continued after SC orders were communicated to the Mayor,” the court stated.
The arguments in the case began with senior advocate Dave, who appeared on behalf of the affected families, telling the court that there are 731 illegal colonies in Delhi. but one colony was chosen because the idea was to target one community.

“How can a BJP leader write a letter that both you and the NDMC demolish? The Delhi Municipality Act includes provisions for notice and appeals.” Dave questioned the need for the demolition drive, pointing out how massive migration to Delhi has resulted in changes that go beyond what the Delhi Master Plan envisioned.

“These are impoverished people. Come to Sainik Farms if you want to get rid of encroachments. Come to Golf Links, where I stay, and every second house is an encroachment in some way, but you don’t touch it “Dave stated. He also claimed that the MCD Act requires notices to be issued prior to demolition, but no notices were issued in this case. This was refuted by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who appeared on behalf of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi Police and stated that the anti-encroachment drive was carried out in accordance with an earlier Delhi High Court order to remove illegal encroachments from the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi.

The SG also argued that, contrary to what the court was told, there are provisions in the MCD Act that allow the MCD commissioner to remove encroachments without providing notice.

Mehta also stated that it is incorrect to claim that only members of one community are being targeted, citing the case of Khargone, where 88 Hindu properties were demolished in the demolition drive compared to only 26 Muslim properties.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned another petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind against the accused’s alleged actions by authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. The plea asks for a declaration that the accused’s properties cannot be demolished as a punitive measure because such a punishment is illegal under criminal law. Furthermore, the petitioner claims that no due process or fair trial was provided prior to the demolition of the houses. “There’s another petition that applies all over India, and that should be listed alongside it,” Sibal said.