Delhi HC angry after seeing bulldozer moving on house despite ban, sharp comment on DDA’s action
The Delhi High Court was shocked to see live pictures of the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) bulldozing action on a house in the morning, despite a court order to stay the demolition. Expressing surprise at the development, a bench of Justice Tara Vistara Ganju made an oral observation that whether there was any law and order or not.
Court said – will be taken seriously
The court will not tolerate the action taken even after the matter is pending in the court and the demolition action is stayed and the defendant’s advocate gives assurance. The court said that this is a peculiar case in itself and it will be taken seriously. With the above observation, the court ordered the Director of DDA Horticulture Department to file an affidavit and maintain status quo in respect of the said property.
The next hearing in the case will be on August 16. The whole matter is related to the demolition notice pasted by the DDA outside the house of Naseem Ahmed, resident of Zakir Nagar Gali No-12. In the petition, filed through advocate Tarun Rana, Naseem said the notice referred to the demolition of half-pucca houses in the slums under an order of the National Green Tribunal in 2015.
He said that his building does not fall in that category. He argued that he had electricity connection and other documents. He told that a report was given to the authorities in this regard, but no response was received. On this, advocate Tarun Rana, appearing for Naseem, demanded an immediate hearing from Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma. The matter came up before Justice Tara Vistar Ganju who directed the DDA to place a record in this regard on Tuesday.
Court asked for record on Monday
The petition was filed in the court on Monday and the court directed advocate Sandeep Sharma and advocate Tarun Rana, appearing for the petitioner, to produce the relevant records on Tuesday. Simultaneously, standing counsel Manika Tripathi, appearing for DDA, sought time to take instructions from the department.
Demolition order
When the team reached the spot for demolition, the petitioner’s advocate raised the matter before the court, the court directed DDA advocate Manika Tripathi not to proceed with the demolition before hearing the matter. On this the DDA permanent assured that no demolition action would be taken. When the hearing of the case started at 11.25 am, Advocates Tarun Rana, Sandeep Sharma, appearing for the petitioner, presented before the court the video of the demolition being done by the DDA.
Also the owner of the property at the demolition site appeared before the court through video conferencing and showed live photographs of the officials carrying out the demolition from JCB. Expressing displeasure over this, the court ordered the officers to appear at one o’clock.
The officers who appeared could not give a satisfactory answer: On the order of the court, the Deputy Director, Patwari and other officers appeared before the court at one o’clock, but they did not have a satisfactory answer to the whole incident. On this, the court ordered the officer present at the demolition site to appear at 4 pm.
Senior Standing Counsel appeared and apologized
Once again the court took up the matter and this time Senior Standing Counsel Arjun Pant appeared before the court on behalf of the authorities and apologized for the entire episode. At the same time, expressing strong displeasure towards the officers, the court will not tolerate it.
