SC issues contempt notice to Assam Chief Secretary for demolition drive in Goalpara

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice on a plea seeking contempt action against the Assam Chief Secretary and other officials for allegedly conducting a mass eviction and demolition drive in Goalpara’s Hasila Beel in violation of the apex court guidelines.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, sought responses of Chief Secretary Ravi Kota, Principal Secretary, Revenue & Disaster Management Department, Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, Goalpara’s District Commissioner Khanindra Choudhury, Goalpara’s Superintendent of Police Nabaneet Mahanta, and other officials in the matter.

"Issue notice, returnable in two weeks. [P]ersonal presence of the alleged contemnnor(s) is dispensed with, until further orders,” ordered the Bench, also comprising Justice K. Vinod Chandran.

As per the plea, filed through advocate Adeel Ahmed, no sufficient time or any opportunity of hearing was given to the petitioners and in an “arbitrary and high-handed manner” a notice was issued to remove their houses, structures, shops, buildings and crops within two days.

"The houses, crops, properties, belongings, etc. of the petitioners and other similarly situated persons have all been demolished in the eviction and demolition exercise."

The petitioners, claiming to be landless, said that their forefathers had to settle in the Hasila Beel revenue village of Balijana Revenue Circle about 50 to 60 years ago after losing their houses and land due to the riverbank erosion of the river Brahmaputra.

The plea said that the eviction and demolition exercise was carried out without granting a personal hearing and without providing adequate time for appeal or judicial review, in blatant violation of the guidelines issued in the case titled “In Re: Directions in the matter of demolition of structures”.

In November last year, a bench of then Justice Gavai and Justice K.V. Viswanathan laid down pan-India directives governing demolitions of unauthorised structures.

The top court had cautioned that flouting its directions by state authorities will result in criminal contempt and prosecution.

Issuing a slew of directions under Article 142 of the Constitution, the apex court said that no demolition will be carried out without a prior show cause notice. It added that the demolition order will not be implemented for a period of 15 days and will be displayed on a designated digital portal to be maintained by every municipal and local authority. The Supreme Court had clarified that its directions will not be applicable if there is an unauthorised structure in any public place, such as a road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies and also to cases where there is an order for demolition made by a court of law.

--IANS

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