Chandigarh: Taking suo motu cognisance of news reports on demolitions of alleged illegal constructions in Haryana’s Nuh and Gurugram, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court said Monday that the move raised issues like “whether buildings belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being conducted by the state”.
Passing a stay order against the demolitions which come in the wake of last week’s communal violence in the Haryana districts, the division bench headed by Justice G.S. Sandhawalia further said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
The HC division bench also observed that it seemed that the demolitions were being carried out without following proper procedure and without issuing notices to the encroachers.
“Apparently without any demolition orders and notices the law and order problem is being used as a ruse to bring down buildings without following the procedure established by law,” stated the order of the division bench. ThePrint has a copy of the order.
The bench added: “We are of the considered opinion that the Constitution of India protects the citizens of this country and no demolition as such can be done without following the procedure prescribed in law.”
“Accordingly we issue directions to the state of Haryana to file an affidavit as to how many buildings have been demolished in the last two weeks both in Nuh and Gurugram and whether any notice was issued before demolition. If any such demolition is to be carried out today it should be stopped if the procedure is not followed as per law,” reads the order.
The bench also appointed advocate Kshitij Sharma amicus curiae in the case. The next date of hearing is 11 August.
Following the HC order, the information and public relation department of Nuh district administration issued a media statement informing that the demolition exercise has been stopped in the district in obeyance of the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
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‘Bulldozers part of ilaaj’
Citing reports published in The Times of India and The Indian Express, Justice Sandhawalia noted that news reports suggest that demolitions were being carried out “on account of the fact that the individuals involved in anti-social activities had made illegal constructions”.
According to the court order, the news reports further suggested that commercial and residential buildings next to a hospital, which were in existence for a long time had been brought down by bulldozers.
“The news items also say that the Home Minister himself has said that the bulldozers are part of the ilaaj [treatment] since the government is probing communal violence. Lord Acton had stated, ‘power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’,” noted the bench.
“Under these circumstances we are constrained to issue notice to the state as it has come to our notice that the state of Haryana is using force and is demolishing buildings on account of the fact that some riots have occurred in Nuh and Gurugram,” added the order.
Six people, including Two personnel of the Haryana Home Guards were killed and over 70 wounded in communal clashes that broke out at a religious procession in Nuh last week. The procession, a ‘Braj Mandal Yatra’, had been organised by Hindutva groups Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Matra Shakti Durga Vahini.
Violence was also reported in neighbouring Nagina and Ferozepur Jhirka towns, and spilled over to Gurugram, where a cleric was killed in a late-night attack on a mosque.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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