Khargone demolitions: Madhya Pradesh High Court points discover to state on residents’ plea

Express News Service

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notices to the state authorities and police over bulldozing of alleged “illegal properties” by the administration and police within the April 10 communal violence hit Khargone city.

The two notices had been issued by the MP High Court’s Indore Bench on April 22 and April 28 respectively on writ petitions filed by house owners of a restaurant and a bakery, which had been demolished by the native authorities on April 12.

The notices have been issued by two separate benches of the MP High Court in Indore to the MP Government (by the chief secretary), state residence division (by principal secretary-home), inspector normal of police (IG-Indore Range), Khargone district collector and the chief municipal officer of the Khargone Nagar Palika Parishad.

In the primary petition pertaining to the demolition of the portion of Waqt Restaurant, the only choose bench of Justice Pranay Verma, on April 22, directed the respondents to file replies inside 4 weeks. On the opposite petition pertaining to the demolition of the Super Bakery, one other single choose bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar, issued notices to the respondents on April 28, searching for a reply in six weeks.

According to Syed Ashhar Ali Warsi, the counsel for each the petitioners, the respondents have illegally and arbitrarily carried out the demolition of the properties, regardless of the petitioners being the authorized house owners of the properties by an acceptable technique of legislation and paying of all related taxes. The petitions had been filed towards the administration for being choose and jury in itself in taking a choice in a vendetta towards the petitioners being members of a minority neighborhood with out reasonability and rationality. The motion taken by the administration was towards the precept of pure justice and humanitarian floor of legislation.

“By carrying out the arbitrary and illegal demolition without any proper notice, the administration has deprived the petitioners of the Right to Livelihood and Right to Shelter. In the case of Waqt restaurant owned by Ateeq Ali, not only was the front portion of the restaurant demolished, but two rooms built on the restaurant (which were well-drafted within the sale deed) which housed the staff of the restaurant were also demolished. Thus while the owner of the restaurant has been deprived of the Right to Livelihood, the restaurant staff have been deprived of the Right to Shelter,” the counsel for the petitioners advised The New Indian Express on Friday.

“The demolition of the Super Bakery is even more shocking, as rioters had set ablaze the same bakery during the communal violence on April 10. Two days later, the administration not only demolished the Bakery (despite its owner Amjad having all requisite ownership and related documents) but even demolished the generator installed there,” Warsi mentioned.

In their petitions, the petitioners have declared that no different continuing on the identical material has been instituted in any court docket, authority or tribunal.

The petitioners in each the writ petitions, have demanded establishment of a judicial enquiry towards the arbitrary and unlawful motion of the federal government/administration, compensation for the demolished properties and their reconstruction and punitive motion towards the involved officers who’ve acted further judicially, the counsel added.

During the listening to of the petition difficult the demolition of a part of Waqt Restaurant, the extra advocate normal of MP, Pushyamitra Bhargav, submitted that due technique of legislation has been adopted within the matter of demolition of the property. Only that a part of the property has been demolished, which couldn’t have been compounded underneath the provisions of legislation. He additional submitted that for the remaining a part of the property, no motion shall be taken towards the petitioner for its demolition with out following the due technique of legislation.