District administration razes 14 houses in Kant enclave

Gurugram: The district administration of Faridabad on Monday went ahead and razed 14 houses situated in Kant enclave, a 425-acre residential area nestled in the Aravallis. According to the officials, 14 structures were razed. Most of these units had recently come up in the area and were less than 14 years old.

A recently built film studio was also among the structures that were demolished. Out of 14, eight structures that were taken down were built by the builder and six were private properties.

The stern action was undertaken after the Supreme Court in its order on September 11, 2018, had stated that all the residential and commercial structures that had come up after 1992 were illegal. The administration had earlier served notices to the homeowners citing categorically that after March 31 it held the right to destroy the structures. The entire process of razing the structures began early at around 7 am and was carried on till late afternoon. Seeing the challenges involved in undertaking the task, five teams of Faridabad police consisting of 300 law enforcement officials were formed to ensure security.

The task was led by Dharmender Singh who is the Assistant district commissioner of Faridabad. There were also other senior officials of Faridabad administration to make sure that there were no lapses in coordinating the tasks. Six big and four small earthmovers were used for razing the structures.

On September 11, the bench comprising of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta gave an order that all the structures that had come up after August 18, 1992, in Kant enclave were illegal and had to be destroyed. There was some reprieve for the homeowners who had built their houses from the period 1984 to August 1992 as the top court stated that their houses will not be destroyed.

According to the official, there were 45 structures in the area that was deemed to be illegal. A legal proceeding that included extending the dates for damaging the structures and increasing the compensation delayed the process of officials going ahead and razing the structures.

The Supreme Court also came down on the Haryana government for amending Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) which made Kant enclave legal. The top court in various judgement has stated categorically that they will not allow the degradation of Aravallis.