'Shocks Our Conscience': Supreme Court Pulls Up Uttar Pradesh Government Over Demolition Drive In Prayagraj, Orders Rs 10 Lakh Compensation

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government and the Prayagraj Development Authority for carrying out a demolition drive in the city. The top court called it "inhumane" and "unconstitutional". The SC asked the Prayagraj Development Authority to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to affected individuals whose houses were "illegally" demolished within six weeks.

The order was passed by a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan. The court said that the demolition drive shocked the conscience. The order was passed while hearing a plea of advocate Zulfiqar Haider, Professor Ali Ahmed and others whose houses were razed in 2021. The victims also alleged that they were given notices just a night before the demolition.

"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…Considering the illegal action of the demolition which is in violation of the rights of the appellants under Article 21 of the Constitution, we direct the Prayagraj Development Authority to pay compensation of 10 lakhs each to the appellants," the bench said as reported by Live Law.

“These cases shock our conscience. Residential premises of the appellants have been high-handedly demolished in the matter which we have discussed in detail”, the Court observed.

The court emphasized that the right to shelter was an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Earlier, the court had slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for demolishing the homes of several people, including a lawyer and a professor without following the required procedure.

Visuals Of Demolition Drive Shared By Akhilesh Yadav:

The petitioners' counsel said that the houses were wrongly demolished by the state government assuming that the land on which the houses were built belonged to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed. Notably, Ahmed was killed in April 2023.

Samajwadi Party chief and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav welcomed the court's decision.

The petitioners approached the Supreme Court after the Allahabad Court rejected their plea against the UP government.