Judgment of the Supreme Court regarding buildings or structures demolished illegally or arbitrarily by the authorities, November 13, 2024
Judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of In Re: Directions in the matter of demolition of structures dated November 13, 2024.
The matter related to whether the executive should be permitted to take away the shelter of a family or families as a measure for infliction of penalty on a person who is accused in a crime under the constitutional scheme or not.
The bench comprising Justice B R Gavai and Justice K V Viswanathan said that if a citizen’s house is demolished merely because he is an accused or even for that matter a convict, that too without following the due process as prescribed by law, is totally unconstitutional. The executive cannot declare a person guilty, as this process is the fundamental aspect of the judicial review. Only on the basis of the accusations, if the executive demolishes the property/properties of such an accused person without following the due process of law, it would strike at the basic principle of rule of law and is not permissible, the SC said.
"The executive cannot become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him by demolishing his residential/commercial property/properties. Such an act of the executive would be transgressing its limits," the Judgment said.
The right to shelter is one of the facets of Article 21. Depriving innocent people of their right to life by removing shelter from their heads would be wholly unconstitutional, the order added. The SC said that even after orders of demolition are passed, the affected party needs to be given some time so as to challenge the order of demolition before an appropriate forum. Further, even in cases of persons who do not wish to contest the demolition order, sufficient time needs to be given to them to vacate and arrange their affairs.
Every municipal/local authority should assign a designated digital portal, within 3 months from the date of judgment wherein details regarding service/pasting of the notice, the reply, the show cause notice and the order passed thereon would be available.
The apex court warned that if the demolition is found to be in violation of the orders of the court, "the officer/officers concerned will be held responsible for restitution of the demolished property at his/their personal cost in addition to payment of damages".
The apex court clarified that the directions would 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.