NEW DELHI: Before rolling out bulldozers to demolish illegal portions of a house or properties, which are either co-owned or resided in a person accused of a heinous offence, authorities across India must follow a lengthy procedure that could take months.
Following are the steps to be taken by authorities:
- No demolition of any illegal structure without 15-day prior notice to the owner, both by registered post and pasting it on the outer walls of the property. The time period would tick from the date of receipt of the notice by the owner
- Intimation of notice simultaneously to collector/district magistrate concerned, who will designate a nodal officer for communication with municipal authorities
- Notice shall delineate nature of unauthorised construction, specify violations, grounds of demolition and fix a date for personal hearing for the owner before a designated authority
- Minutes of personal hearing given to owner to be recorded. After hearing, authority concerned will pass final order detailing which portion of structure is unauthorised, whether it’s compoundable
- If not, the authorities will specify why a portion or the entire structure requires to be demolished, and give an opportunity to the owner to remove/demolish the said unauthorised portion
- The final order for demolition would not be implemented for 15 days to allow the aggrieved person to approach the courts
- If the owner does not challenge the final order of the authority in court within 15 days, then the demolition drive can be undertaken after preparing a detailed inspection report in the presence of two independent witnesses
- Demolition has to be videographed and the authorities have to send a report to the civic authority commissioner concerned, containing the names of civil and police officials who participated in the demolition process
Consequences of violation of Supreme Court order:
- Authorities shall strictly adhere to the guidelines; violations would lead to initiation of contempt proceedings in addition to prosecution
- Officers concerned will be asked to restore the demolished structure to its original state at their personal cost and also be liable to pay damages (compensation)
