SC orders UP government to pay Rs 60 lakh compensation for bulldozing homes in Prayagraj

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Prayagraj Development Authority to pay Rs 10 lakh each within six weeks to six persons, including a lawyer and a professor, for illegally bulldozing their homes in 2021, Live Law reported.

“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 of India,” the court said while holding the demolitions as a “violation of rights of the appellants under Article 21 of the Constitution”.

The bench of justices Abhay S Okay and Ujjal Bhuyan said the “cases shock our conscience” and criticised the manner in which authorities served notices to the appellants before demolishing their homes.

“This affixing business must be stopped,” the court said. “They have lost their houses because of this.”

The court was referring to the method of posting notices instead of delivering them in person or via registered mail.

The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Zulfiqar Haider, professor Ali Ahmed, two widows and another person. The group had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s dismissal of their petition against the demolition of their houses in 2021.

The petitioners claimed that the state government had erroneously linked their land to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, Live Law reported. Ahmed was killed in April...

Read more