No demolition was carried out without following procedure of law: Hry govt to HC

Chandigarh: Justifying its stand on the observation made by the Punjab and Haryana High Court with regard to ‘ethnic cleansing’, the Haryana Government in its reply said, “No demolition was carried out without following the procedure of law.”

In the seperate replies submitted by Dhirendra Khadgata, Deputy Commissioner, Nuh and Deputy Commissioner Gurugram, Nishant Kumar Yadav, it was stated that the Government while removing encroachments/ unauthorised constructions never adopted pick and choose policy and that too on the basis of caste, creed or religion.

Also, this Court while passing the order dated 07 August 2023 had serious apprehensions as to whether buildings belonging to a particular community.

The State Government while collecting such information on encroachment does not collect any information with regard to caste, creed and religion as for the Government all encroachers are dealt with in the same manner.”

The reply was submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli.

It was also mentioned that the Apex Court and the High Court have time and again directed the State Governments and the local authorities to demolish/remove unauthorised encroachments by way of permanent temporary constructions on Government/Panchayats/Local Bodies lands. The demolitions in question were routine measures taken by independent local authorities against the owners/occupiers or illegal structures and that too after following the due procedure of law.”

In the detailed reply submitted by the State Government, it was clearly mentioned that 283 Muslims and 71 Hindus were affected by the demolition drive carried out recently in the district. As the suo motu case came up for hearing today Additional Advocate General Deepak Sabharwal informed the Court today that in compliance with the directions of the High Court detailed report has been sought from all departments concerned.

It was stated in the report that 443 structures were demolished, of which 162 were permanent and 281 were temporary and about 354 persons were affected by the drive of which 71 were Hindus and 283 were Muslims.

Referring to the 2011 census, the report added Mewat had a population of 10,89,263, of which the Muslim and the Hindu population was around 79.20 per cent and 20.37 per cent, respectively.