'Shocks our conscience': SC directs Uttar Pradesh govt to pay Rs 10 lakh to owners of each demolished house in Prayagraj

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government and the Prayagraj Development Authority, terming its demolition of homes in the city "illegal" and "inhuman".

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said, "This shocks our conscience. There is something called right to shelter, due process of law". 

The top court directed the authority to pay within six weeks Rs 10 lakh compensation each to the five house owners.

The bench said the demolition action was carried out in a "high-handed" manner and the residential structures of citizens couldn't be demolished in such a manner, as there is a rule of law in the country.

The top court said the petitioners’ have lost their houses and directed concerned authority to fix compensation in each case. 

"That is the only way to do this. So that this authority will always remember to follow due process," it said.

The bench noted the aggrieved persons in the matter were not provided "reasonable opportunity" to respond to the notice in connection with the demolition. It further said the authorities and especially the development authority must remember that the right to shelter is also an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution.

The top court had earlier pulled up the concerned authority and the state government for razing the homes of a lawyer, a professor and three others without following due procedure. 

Advocate Zulfiqar Haider, Professor Ali Ahmed and three others, whose homes had been demolished, had submitted before the apex court that they were given notices just one night before the bulldozer action.

The petitioners approached the apex court after the Allahabad High Court dismissed their plea against the demolition. The petitioners' counsel argued that the state had wrongly linked their land to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was killed in April 2023.

On March 24, the top court had said it would permit the reconstruction of houses of a lawyer, a professor, and three others in Prayagraj, which were demolished, without due process of law, by the Uttar Pradesh authorities.

During the hearing on March 24, defending the demolitions, Attorney General R Venkataramani contended that the first notice was given in December 2020, followed by notices given in January 2021, and March 2021.

"We cannot say that there is no adequate due process and there was adequate due process,” he said. 

Venkatramani contended that there are large-scale illegal occupations either beyond the period of lease or rejection of applications of freehold.

The bench said notices were served by affixture, not the method approved by the law, and only the last notice was served by the legally recognised method, through registered post.

The bench said the authorities concerned should act fairly by giving the occupant adequate time to file appeals. 

“Notice served on March 6, demolition carried out on March 7. Now we will allow them to reconstruct," the bench said.

“It shocks the conscience of the court the manner in which within 24 hours of the notice it was done,” the bench observed.