The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for illegal and abrupt demolition of a house with bulldozer for road widening.

The SC bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that an advance notice was not served and the due process was not followed, according to reports.

Terming the action by the state as out of the law, the top court said that the state government ‘can't come with bulldozer and demolish houses overnight without giving time to vacate the houses’.

The court also stated that the state could not justify the extent of encroachment, and questioned why demolition took place beyond alleged encroachment.

The apex court also asked the state to pay ₹25 lakh within a month to the petitioner whose house was demolished.

CJI Chandrachud also said that the authorities went to the site and informed the people of the demolition through a loudspeaker.

“You can't just with a beat of drum tell people to vacate houses and demolish them. There has to be proper notice,” Justice Pardiwala reportedly said.

Before this, the apex court on September 17 had flagged ‘glorification’ and ‘grandstanding’ over bulldozer action in the country, and said if necessary, it will involve the Election Commission of India in the issue as it paused all demolition actions across the country, except with its permission, till the next date of hearing. 

Passing the order, a bench, headed by Justice B R Gavai had stated that unauthorised structures may be demolished following the due procedure but under no circumstances, property be demolished for ‘extraneous reasons’.

Posting the batch of petitions alleging demolitions carried out without notice for the next hearing on October 1, it said that it would lay down directives within the framework of municipal law guaranteeing legal remedies.

The apex court said that neither the unauthorised occupants nor the authorities should be allowed to take any advantage of ‘lacunas’ in municipal laws.

In an earlier hearing held on September 2, the top court mulled the formation of pan-India guidelines against the demolition of property of individuals accused of committing criminal offences.

It had stressed that even unauthorised construction has to be demolished in ‘accordance with law’ and state authorities cannot resort to the demolition of the property of the accused as a punishment.

The SC remarked that not only the house of an accused, but the house of a convict cannot meet such a fate, while clarifying the apex court‘s intention to not protect unauthorised structures.

(with inputs from syndicated feed)