Punjab and Haryana High Court stays demolition in Nuh, seeks detail of action

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday restrained the Haryana government from the ongoing demolition drive in Nuh district that witnessed communal violence last week, leaving six people dead.

A bench, headed by Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, took suo moto cognisance of the matter and asked the state to not carry out any further demolition exercise until further orders.

"We are constrained to issue notice to state as it has come to our notice that Haryana is using force and is demolishing buildings on account of the fact that some riots have occurred in Gurugram and Nuh," it observed.

"Apparently, without any demolition orders and notices, the law and order problem is being used as a ruse to bring down buildings without following the procedure established by law.

"The issue also arises whether the buildings belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being conducted by the state.

“We are of the considered opinion that the Constitution of India protects the citizens of this country and no demolitions as such can be done without following the procedure prescribed in law," the bench said.

Accordingly, the bench issued directions to Haryana to furnish an affidavit as to how many buildings have been demolished in last two weeks, both in Nuh and Gurugram and whether any notice was issued before demolition.

"If any such demolition is to be carried out today, it should be stopped if the procedure is not followed as per law," said the bench while listing the case for next hearing on August 11.