Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court dismissed the pleas of 24 occupants yesterday, allowing the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) to demolish allegedly illegal establishments in the area. This decision has prompted a Supreme Court petition contesting the demolition of illegal spaces in Akbar Nagar, Lucknow.
In quick succession after receiving the judgment from the high court, the LDA started demolishing the shops and other commercial buildings on Ayodhya Road in Akbar Nagar on Tuesday night. Senior Advocate S Muralidhar brought up the issue in front of a bench chaired by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday morning, protesting the speed at which the demolition was completed following the high court’s ruling.
But the court made clear that it could not hear the special leave petition at this time because it had not been brought before it. Judge Khanna directed that the registrar general be consulted before the plea is listed. The judge promised that the matter will be taken up once it was posted.
The tenants of these business spaces have filed a challenge against the demolition orders issued by the LDA with the high court. Nevertheless, a division bench made up of Justices Om Prakash Shukla and Vivek Chaudhary dismissed the case Monday, saying they could not find any justification for using their discretionary authority in the petitioners’ favor.
The division of the residents into taxpayers and Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards was crucial to the court’s ruling. The court observed that the parties had misrepresented themselves as slum residents and had not given correct information. The petitioners were not slum inhabitants, nor did their establishments fall inside the defined slum region, the court clarified after carefully reviewing the paperwork. This legal dispute began in December of last year.
