The Uttar Pradesh government has told the Supreme Court that demolitions of illegal structures were carried out by its Kanpur and Prayagraj municipal bodies as per law and were not related to punishing the accused involved in violent protests following remarks by two BJP leaders on Prophet Mohammed. In an affidavit filed pursuant to pleas filed by a Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, the state government said, “the said demolitions referred to in the interlocutory applications have been carried out by the local development authority, which are statutory autonomous bodies, independent of the state administration, as per law as part of their routine effort against unauthorised/illegal constructions and encroachments, in accordance with the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1972”.
It pointed out that the top court in a recent writ petition filed by a political party concerning the alleged demolitions in Shaheen Bagh here, noted that only the affected party and not political parties should come forward and allowed withdrawal of the petition with liberty to approach the High Court. “Furthermore, it is submitted that even if any such alleged demolition action is to be challenged, the same is to be done by the affected party before the High Court, and not this court”, the state government said, adding that it is taking strong exception to the attempt by the petitioners to name the highest constitutional functionaries of the State and falsely colour the local development authority’s lawful actions as “extra-legal punitive measures” against accused persons, targeting any particular religious community.
It said that all such allegations are absolutely false and are vehemently denied and urged the court to hold the petitioner to terms for the said false allegations without basis before this court. The UP government further said that the petitioner has cherry-picked two demolition actions of illegal constructions in the properties of one Ishtiaq Ahmad and one Riyaz Ahmed that took place in Kanpur on June 11, 2022, in an attempt to falsely link the same to the rioting; however, it has failed to note that in both cases, certain portions of the two illegal/non-compliant structures in question took place; that both buildings were under construction and not in conformity with the permission granted.
The state government said that petitioner Jamiat-Ulama-I-Hind has "deliberately obfuscated" the true facts to paint a nefarious picture of alleged malafides on the part of the administration and that too, without stating any facts on affidavit. Similarly, it said that the petitioner while seeking relief, has cherry-picked one instance of demolition in the city of Prayagraj in respect of the demolition of the house of one Javed Mohammad on June 12. “The petitioner as failed to disclose the fact that the proceedings under the 1973 Act and Rules by the Prayagraj Development Authority against the said person for illegal construction without any sanction at all, unauthorised use of residential land as an office, had been initiated much prior to the incidents of rioting”, it said.
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