HC asks Haryana to show notices of demolition in Nuh

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday stayed the Haryana administration's demolition drives in strife-torn Nuh and Gurugram, observed that the law-and-order situation is being "used as a ruse" to pull buildings without due process, and asked if the action is an "exercise of ethnic cleansing" by the state.

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Taking suo motu cognisance of the demolition exercise, which began in Nuh last Thursday, three days after communal violence erupted in the district on July 30, the court also asked the Haryana government to furnish details of how many structures were razed and if any notices were issued before the demolitions. Since the drive began, the Nuh administration has torn down at least 750 properties, said officials. No properties have been demolished in Gurugram.

"Apparently, without any demolition orders and notices, the law-and-order problem is being used as a ruse to bring down buildings without following the procedure established by law," said a bench of justices Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Harpreet Kaur Jeewan.