Bulldozer judgement: SC lays down guidelines, says no demolition without 15 days notice

Laying down a detailed procedure and guidelines to be followed by the authorities, a bench of Justices said authorities should strictly comply with the directions issued.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said no demolition of a house should be carried out without a prior show cause notice to the owner, returnable either in accordance with the time provided by the local municipal laws or within 15 days’ time from the date of service of such notice.

Laying down a detailed procedure and guidelines to be followed by the authorities, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan said the authorities should strictly comply with the directions issued by us. 

It will also be informed that violation of any of the directions would lead to initiation of contempt proceedings in addition to the prosecution, the bench cautioned.

The bench also said the officials should also be informed that if the demolition is found to be in violation of the orders of this court, they will be held responsible for restitution of the demolished property at their personal cost in addition to payment of damages. 

"These directions will not be applicable if there is an unauthorised structure in any public place such as road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies and also to cases where there is an order for demolition made by a Court of law," the bench said.

In its directions, the bench said, "To prevent any allegation of backdating, we direct that as soon as the show cause notice is duly served, intimation thereof shall be sent to the office of Collector/District Magistrate of the district digitally by email and an auto generated reply acknowledging receipt of the mail should also be issued from the office of the Collector/District Magistrate."

The court also directed the Collector/DM should designate a nodal officer and also assign an email address and communicate if to all the municipal and other authorities in charge of building regulations and demolition within one month.

The court also said the notice should contain the details regarding, the nature of the unauthorized construction, the details of the specific violation and the grounds of demolition, s list of documents that the noticee is required to furnish along with his reply, the notice should also specify the date on which the personal hearing is fixed and the designated authority before whom the hearing will take place.

"Every municipal/local authority shall assign a designated digital portal, within three months wherein details regarding service/pasting of the notice, the reply, the show cause notice and the order passed thereon would be available," the bench said.

Emphasising on the importance of personal hearing, the bench said the designated authority should give an opportunity of personal hearing to the person concerned and the minutes of such a hearing should also be recorded.

"Upon hearing, the designated authority shall pass a final order.  The final order shall contain: the contentions of the noticee, and if the designated authority disagrees with the same, the reasons thereof; as to whether the unauthorized construction is compoundable, if it is not so, the reasons therefor; if the designated authority finds that only part of the construction is unauthorised/non compoundable, then the details thereof, and as to why the extreme step of demolition is the only option available and other options like compounding and demolishing only part of the property are not available," the bench said.

With regard to an opportunity of appellate and judicial scrutiny of the final order, the bench said, "We further direct that if the statute provides for an appellate opportunity and time for filing the same, or even if it does not so, the order will not be implemented for a period of 15 days from the date of receipt thereof."

The order should also be displayed on the digital portal and an opportunity should be given to the owner/occupier to remove the unauthorized construction or demolish the same within a period of 15 days, the court said.

"Only after the period of 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice has expired and the owner/occupier has not removed/demolished the unauthorised construction, and if the same is not stayed by any appellate authority or a court, the concerned authority shall take steps to demolish the same," the bench said.

The court also clarified it is only such construction which is found to be unauthorised and not compoundable should be demolished and before demolition, a detailed inspection report shall be prepared by the concerned authority.

With regard to the proceedings of demolition, the bench said it should be video-graphed, and the concerned authority should prepare a demolition report giving the list of police officials and civil personnel that participated in the demolition process and video recording to be duly preserved. 

"The said demolition report should be forwarded to the Municipal Commissioner by email and shall also be displayed on the digital portal," the bench said.