2024-10-01 15:25:25
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will issue guidelines to all citizens on the issue of demolition of properties. Along with this, the court reserved its decision on the petitions in which it has been alleged that properties including those of the accused are being demolished in many states. The Supreme Court said that its guidelines will be applicable throughout India. The Supreme Court said that it is making it clear that merely being an accused or guilty of a person cannot be the basis for demolition of property. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan said, whatever we are deciding… we are a secular country. We are releasing this for all citizens, all institutions and not for any particular community.
The bench said that there cannot be a separate law for any particular religion. It said it would not patronize any unauthorized construction on public roads, government lands or forests. The court said that we will try to ensure that our order does not help those who encroach on any public place.
After hearing the case, the bench said that the order is reserved. After reserving the bench’s orders, a lawyer appearing for the petitioners referred to the September 17 order of the Supreme Court which had said that the properties of the accused and others would not be demolished till October 1 without its permission.
The lawyer requested the bench to extend the period of its interim order. On this the bench said that it will remain in place till a decision is taken in this matter. Earlier the court had said that if there is even a single case of illegal demolition then it is against the values of our Constitution. The court had clarified that its order would not apply to unauthorized structures built on public places like roads, footpaths, railway lines or water bodies and would also not apply to cases in which demolition has been ordered by the court.