‘SC parked bulldozer in garage forever’: Oppn leaders hail top court’s verdict

New Delhi: With the Supreme Court applying brakes on bulldozer action, opposition leaders on Wednesday hailed the judgement and took a swipe at the BJP, saying the apex court has “parked the bulldozer in the garage forever”.

Equating ‘bulldozer justice’ with a lawless state of affairs where might is right, the apex court laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished without a prior show cause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.

The executive cannot assume judicial powers to punish citizens by demolishing their properties without following due process, the top court said while terming such excesses “high-handed and arbitrary” and ruling that they need to be dealt with the “heavy hand of the law”.

Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh hoped that with this verdict, the “bulldozer terror” and “jungle raj” in the state would end.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the Supreme Court has “parked the bulldozer in the garage forever”, remarks that were seen as a dig at the Yogi Adityanath government.

Addressing a gathering in Kanpur ahead of the November 20 bypolls, Yadav claimed that the houses of the poor were being demolished in the name of bulldozer action.

He claimed that the manner in which bulldozers were used in Ayodhya

was the reason behind the defeat of the BJP in the Lok Sabha election.

Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP over the top court verdict, he said, “With the Supreme Court’s decision, the bulldozer has been parked in the garage forever. There can be no bigger comment than what the Supreme Court said.”

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati took to X to welcome the verdict and said, “After today’s decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court regarding demolitions and the related strict

guidelines, it should be expected that

Uttar Pradesh and other state governments will manage public interest and welfare properly and the terror of bulldozer will definitely end now.”

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said the verdict would end the “jungle raj” in the state while the Samajwadi Party said that “bulldozer action” was “totally unjust, unfair, unconstitutional and illegal”.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government, which has been receiving flak from various quarters over bulldozer action, also hailed the

Supreme Court’s verdict on the matter and said it will help curb organised crime and instil a fear of legal consequences among criminals.