The Supreme Court had made strict guidelines regarding the action of bulldozers. The Supreme Court’s decision came on a petition filed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind against Delhi Municipal Corporation. The country’s top court said that one can drive a bulldozer but it is unconstitutional and illegal to drive a bulldozer on someone’s house or property without following the procedure laid down in law. The Supreme Court said that the entire family cannot be punished for the crime of one person. This is inhumane. Officials cannot act arbitrarily in this matter. The court said that if a house or property is to be demolished, at least 15 days’ notice must be given to its owner. Landlord should be given full opportunity to present his side. The hearing shall be by appearance. Then its response has to state what is lacking and on what basis bulldozer is the only option.
The Supreme Court has also said that the entire process from issuing notice to demolition of the building should be transparent, complete video recording of bulldozer action. Justice BR Gawai and Justice K. A bench of V. Viswanathan said that if any officer ignores the guidelines, he will be prosecuted for contempt of court. If found guilty, the officer will have to rebuild the demolished building at his own expense. The Supreme Court used a strict tone. The guidelines that have been created are very clear, the entire process is laid out.
There are two main things to understand in the Supreme Court’s decision. First, the court did not stop the bulldozer’s action. Only guidelines have been issued. Secondly, earlier too there was a provision of 15 days notice for bulldozer action. Earlier also the accused were given an opportunity to be heard. There was a right to appeal. The Supreme Court has only tried to ensure that the bulldozer action should not be rushed, should be done as per due process and should be transparent.
The effect of this will be that if a crime is committed today, the house of the accused will not be bulldozed tomorrow. It will take fifteen days for the bulldozer to arrive. As far as the bulldozer action taken earlier today is concerned, I have some data. According to him, after 2017, more than two thousand bulldozer operations took place in seven states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat. But the most talked about was the action taken during Yogi Adityanath’s regime. Because Yogi destroyed the wealth of mafias and miscreants with complete arrogance. All mafias like Mukhtar Ansari, Atiq Ahmed, Vikas Dubey, Vijay Mishra bulldozed the illegal property and built houses for the poor on that land.
The Supreme Court’s decision has nothing to do with the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh. The UP government is not a party to the petitions on which the court has decided. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had filed the case against the Delhi Municipal Corporation but when political rhetoric took hold, the UP government welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision in the evening. A spokesperson of the UP government said that this decision will make it easier to control mafias and professional criminals. It means that Yogi’s attitude will not soften. (Rajat Sharma)
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