Supreme Court halts Jahangirpuri demolition drive

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 20

The BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) today launched an anti-encroachment demolition drive in the riot-hit Jahangirpuri, but within hours the bulldozers fell silent as the Supreme Court ordered status quo and stayed the action.

• Editorial: Demolition overdrive

The Supreme Court had to intervene twice to stop the drive after it took cognisance of a petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind against the demolition. Senior lawyer Dushyant Dave approached the Supreme Court Bench headed by the CJI for a second time after an earlier order failed to stop the civic body from continuing with the demolition.

“Despite communicating the (stay) order, they (authorities) are not stopping the demolition. They are saying that they have not officially received any communication. I request you to ask the Secretary-General to communicate the order to the Police Commissioner and the Mayor and the Commissioner of the NDMC,” Dave said.

The SC then directed the apex court’s Secretary-General to convey the earlier order to stop the demolition immediately. During the demolition drive, in less than two hours several shops and businesses were pulled down amid scenes of chaos, with many owners insisting their establishments had the sanction of the Delhi Development Authority and the local civic body. Politics erupted over the demolition drive, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi calling it “state-sponsored targeting of poor and minorities”.

CPM leader Brinda Karat, who visited the area with the court order to stop the civic authorities’ action, was livid. “The SC ordered status quo at 10:45 am. Our lawyers Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave mentioned it before the court. I have come to stop this demolition...,” she said.

The action came a day after BJP’s Delhi unit president Adesh Kumar Gupta wrote to the Mayor to identify illegal constructions of the “rioters” in Jahangirpuri and demolish them using bulldozers, raising questions about the political intention behind the action.

Meanwhile, a group of leaders from the BJP’s Delhi unit, including Adesh Gupta, MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah later this evening at his North Block office. The leaders remained tight-lipped about the issues discussed, but sources said the recent violence at Jahangiripuri and the demolition drive figured at the meeting.

The anti-encroachment drive continued for one and a half hours even after the Supreme Court directed the authorities to stop it.

“The drive continued because of the absence of a written order from the Supreme Court. It was stopped as soon as the order was received,” a civic official said.

NDMC Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh insisted the drive was stopped after the Supreme Court order. “We will follow the Supreme Court orders. We have stopped the drive. We have removed only a few sacks of garbage and dirt along with a few temporary structures,” Singh said. He claimed it was a routine action against encroachers and not linked to the April 16 riots.

The action came against the backdrop of demolition drives carried out by the BJP governments in MP’s Khargone and Gujarat’s Anand districts, where bulldozers were used to pull down “illegal” properties belonging to the alleged rioters.

How the day unfolded

• 10 am: BJP-governed NDMC starts anti-encroachment drive
• 10:45: SC orders status quo, stays action; drive continues as NDMC awaits written order
• At noon: SC Secy-General conveys order; drive stops

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