Demolition drive stops in Jahangirpuri after SC intervention, hearing tomorrow | Top points
India Today
An anti-encroachment drive was launched in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area on Wednesday. Several shops and businesses were pulled down before the Supreme Court ordered a stay on the demolition drive.
An anti-encroachment drive was undertaken by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) in violence-hit Jahangirpuri. As bulldozers razed several structures in Jahangirpuri on Wednesday, the Supreme Court stepped in and ordered a stay on the demolition drive.
The demolition drive led to a political row, with top leaders condemning it. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the government over the use of bulldozers in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, AIMIM chief Asadudding Owaisi alleged that it was “targeted demolition”, and “an example of vigilante justice”.
1) The NDMC launched an anti-encroachment drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on Wednesday, April 20. While the demolition drive followed just days after communal clashes erupted in the area on Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday, the NDMC claimed that it was a “routine” anti-encroachment that it undertakes regularly. The civic body further said that an advance notice need not be given to carry out an anti-encroachment drives on government land.
2) The Supreme Court intervened in the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri and ordered a stay on it after taking note of a plea of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind that buildings of Muslim riots accused are being razed. However, the demolition drive was still underway an hour after the court passed the order, with the NDMC claiming that it had not received the court order. The Supreme Court had to step in a second time before the demolition drive was finally halted. The delay in execution of order further raised questions over the process of communication of court order.
3) Pleas against the anti-encroachment drive by North Delhi Municipal Corporation in Jahangirpuri were not taken up for hearing by the Delhi High Court after an order of status quo was passed by the Supreme Court concerning the demolition.
4) A political row erupted over the demolition drive on Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that it was a demolition of India's constitutional values and targeted against the poor and minorities. He also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to switch off "bulldozers of hate" and switch on power plants, while highlighting the shortage of coal in the country due to which power plants were being shut down.
