Bulldozer Justice: Supreme Court Issues Nationwide Guidelines On Property Demolitions

Any unauthorised construction of a property cannot be demolished without following the due process of law, the Supreme Court has held.

In doing so, the court has issued pan-India guidelines that the executive machinery needs to follow while proceeding with demolitions.

The court has said that no demolition should be carried out without issuing a prior show cause notice to the concerned person and that a minimum time of 15 days will have to be given to furnish a reply for the same.

The notice must include details about the type of unauthorised construction, the specific violations, the grounds for demolition, the date of the personal hearing, and the designated authority who will preside over the hearing.

Once the designated authority concludes with the personal hearing, it will be required to issue a final order that must include the contentions of the concerned person and whether the charge of unauthorised construction can be dropped.

In the final order, the authority will have to specify why the extreme step of demolition is the only option available and other options like compounding and demolishing only a part of the property are not available.

In addition, the court has said that the proceedings of demolition shall be videographed, and the concerned authority shall prepare a demolition report giving the list of police officials and civil personnel that participated in the demolition process.

The top court has made it clear that individuals involved in demolitions without adhering to this procedure will be liable for both the personal cost of restitution of the destroyed property and the payment of damages.

The court also stated that in cases where the person does not wish to contest the demolition order, sufficient time needs to be given to them to vacate and arrange their affairs.

Several citizens have criticised 'bulldozer justice' after a rise in incidents where homes of alleged criminals or convicts were demolished. It has been touted as a form of punishment and a message to criminal elements. However, often the action takes place before legal proceedings or formal convictions.

This had prompted the top court to say that there has to be some kind of procedure that must be followed before a demolition can take place.

The court has time and again made it clear that the government cannot throttle the voice of its citizens by 'illegally' demolishing their properties and that such an action is unacceptable under the law.

Notably, the court has made it clear that it is not against the demolition of unauthorised properties.

The court flagged that the constitutional right to property that every citizen of this country enjoys will be reduced to a dead letter if illegal demolitions are allowed to continue.

As a result, the top court had reserved its verdict on this issue back in September. At the time, the court said that it would issue guidelines that the executive would need to follow before any decision regarding demolition of properties is taken.