New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday, while pronouncing the verdict on 'bulldozer action', issued certaing guidelines.
The Apex Court at the same time issued clarification about these guidelines. The Supreme Court claified that "these directions will not be applicable if there is an unauthorized structure in any public place such as road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies and also to cases where there is an
order for demolition made by a Court of law."
Here is the main crux of the Supreme Court guidelines:
1. No demolition should be carried out without a prior show cause notice to the owner/occupier
by a registered post A.D. Additionally, the notice shall also be affixed conspicuously on the outer portion of the structure in question.
2. As soon as the show cause notice is duly served, intimation thereof shall be sent to the office of Collector/District Magistrate by email and an auto generated reply acknowledging receipt of the mail should also be issued from the office of the Collector/District Magistrate.
Personal hearing
3. The notice should also specify the date on which the personal hearing is fixed and the designated authority before whom the hearing will take place.
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4. Every municipal/local authority shall assign a designated digital portal, within 3 months from today wherein details regarding service/pasting of the notice, the reply, the show cause notice and the order passed thereon would be available.
5. The designated authority shall give an opportunity of personal hearing to the person concerned and the minutes of such a hearing shall also be recorded.
6. Upon hearing, the designated authority shall pass a final order.
7. If the designated authority finds that only part of the construction is unauthorized/noncompoundable, then the details thereof.
8. If the demolition is the only option then as to why the extreme step of demolition is necessary and other options like compounding and demolishing only part of the property are not available.
15-day notice
9. If the statute provides for an appellate opportunity and time for filing the same, or even if it does not so, the order will not be implemented for a period of 15 days from the date of receipt there of.
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10. An opportunity should be given to the owner/occupier to remove the unauthorized construction or demolish the same within 15 days.
11. Only after the 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice has expired and the owner/occupier has not removed/demolished the unauthorized construction, and if the same is not stayed by any appellate authority or a court, the concerned authority shall take steps to demolish the same.
Videography of demolition
12. The proceedings of demolition shall be video-graphed, and the concerned authority shall prepare a
demolition report giving the list of police officials and civil personnel that participated in the demolition process.
13. The said demolition report should be forwarded to the Municipal Commissioner by email and shall also be displayed on the digital portal.
Copy to all States/UTs
14. The Registrar (Judicial) is directed to circulate a copy of this judgment to the Chief Secretaries of all the States/Union Territories and the Registrar Generals of all the High Courts. All State Governments shall issue circulars to all the District Magistrates and local authorities intimating them about the directions issued by this Court.
Appreciation for Abhishek Manu Singhvi, others
15. Before we part with the judgment, we must place on record our appreciation for the valuable assistance and suggestions given by Shri Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shri M.R. Shamshad, Shri Sanjay Hegde, Shri C.U. Singh, Smt. Nitya Ramakrishnan, learned Senior Counsel, and Shri Prashant Bhushan, Shri Mohd. Nizammudin Pasha, Smt. Fauzia Shakil and Smt. Rashmi Singh, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners/applicants.
