Petition in SC against Demolition in Lucknow

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) A Special Leave Petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the demolition of commercial spaces in Lucknow’s Akbar Nagar in a hurry soon after the Allahabad High Court dismissed the pleas of 24 occupants. Hours after the high court order on Tuesday, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) began the demolition process of the allegedly illegal establishments in the area, targeting shops and other commercial buildings along Ayodhya Road in Akbar Nagar. On Wednesday morning, Senior Advocate S Muralidhar mentioned the matter before the Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, remonstrating against the haste with which the demolition was carried out immediately after the high court passed its order. Justice Sanjiv Khanna pointed out that the special leave petition had not been placed before it and said it could not be considered at the moment. Justice Khanna instructed that the plea be brought before the registrar general first for listing. Once listed, the matter would be taken up, the judge assured. The occupants of the commercial spaces had approached the high court challenging the LDA’s demolition orders. The division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Om Prakash Shukla dismissing the petition stated that it found no reason to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction in favour of the petitioners. The court’s decision was based on the categorisation of the occupants into two groups: taxpayers and Below Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders. The High Court said the individuals had presented themselves as slum dwellers, failing to provide accurate information. The court clarified that after a thorough review of the documents, it was evident that neither the petitioners were slum dwellers nor did their establishments fall within the designated slum area. The matter pertains to a legal battle when residents of Akbar Nagar first approached the high court in December 2022 against the LDA’s demolition orders. The LDA had notified the entire area as river bed and cited construction on Kukrail’s riverbed and banks as illegal. UNI SNG SSP