Supreme Court Dismisses Contempt Petition Alleging Illegal Demolitions In Uttarakhand, Rajasthan And UP

The Supreme Court on Thursday (24 October) dismissed a contempt petition filed against government officials from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

The petition alleged that unlawful demolitions were carried out in these states, in violation of the court’s previous orders.

The bench, comprising of Justices B R Gavai, K V Viswanathan, and Prashant Kumar Mishra, noted that the petition submitted by the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) relied heavily on media reports and lacked any substantial evidence to prove that its orders had been violated.

In the absence of concrete proof, the court dismissed the contempt plea, ruling that relying on media reports without presenting proper evidence was insufficient to pursue such a case.

“We don’t want to open a Pandora box,” the Bench said, Indian Express reported.

While hearing the case, the bench, after considering the arguments of Additional Solicitor General K M Natraj for Uttar Pradesh and Additional Advocate General Shiv Mangal Sharma for Rajasthan, questioned how the petitioner was personally aggrieved by the alleged demolitions.

The petitioner claimed that the demolition, which occurred on 20 October, violated the Supreme Court’s directives issued on 17 September and 1 October this year.

These orders had stated that no demolitions should occur across the country without first obtaining the Supreme Court’s permission.

However, the court in the above orders clarified that the the restriction on demolitions did not apply to unauthorised structures located in public spaces, such as roads, streets, footpaths, or areas near railway lines or water bodies.

Further, demolitions conducted in accordance with court orders were also exempt from these restrictions.

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