SC orders ₹50L compensation for arbitrary demolitions in UP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh each for demolishing five residential structures in March 2021, denouncing the demolitions as "inhuman", "shocking", and a blatant violation of the "right to shelter" and "due process".

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI:

The state authorities had wrongly linked the land to slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, leading the bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan to castigate the civic body's actions as "illegal" and directing it to strictly adhere to Supreme Court's November 2024 ruling, which laid down guidelines to curb arbitrary demolitions.

"These cases shock our conscience...There is something called right to shelter, something called due process," observed the bench, adding that the affected residents were deprived of their right to challenge the demolition orders because of "high-handedness" by the civil body.