Supreme Court stops bulldozer demolitions across India until October 1

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped bulldozer demolition across India until October 1 without its permission, and unless the demolitions are on public roads, water bodies, railway lines.The apex court said it would formulate directives on when and how properties can be demolished under the municipal laws of the land.Last week, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Sudhanshu Dhulia, and SVN Bhatti had criticised “ bulldozer justice”, and observed that such demolition threats are inconceivable in a country where the law is supreme.One of municipal authorities in Gujarat threatened to bulldoze the house of a family among whom one of them has been named in the FIR. The petitioner, a co-owner of a land in the Kathlal in Kheda district had approached the top court against the decision of the municipal authorities. The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that three generations of his family are residing in the said houses for about two decades.“In a country where actions of the State are governed by the rule of law, the transgression by a family member cannot invite action against other members of the family or their legally-constructed residence. Alleged involvement in crime is no ground for the demolition of a property,” the bench observed.
On September 2, the top court had said it would issue guidelines to regulate demolitions across India. “We are on broad guidelines so that there is no bulldozer tomorrow and so that it is documented and checked so that neither side point any lacunae…Why cannot some guidelines be passed so that it is followed? There can be notice, time to file a reply, time to pursue other legal remedies and then the demolition…we want to resolve this on a pan-India basis,” the bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and KV Viswanathan had stated.