The High Court of Uttarakhand has stayed the razing of homes of slum dwellers in the Vikas Nagar area of Dehradun, saying the demolition notices contravened the principles of natural justice.
On Saturday, hHearing a PIL because of the urgency of the matter, a division bench of Chief Justice G Narendar & Justice Ashish Naithani said the demolition notices were issued without giving the residents an opportunity to be heard.
The bench ruled that the demolition be stayed until further orders from the Court.
The applicants are residents of different villages of Vikas Nagar in Dehradun district & lawful citizens of the country, according to the PIL.
They received the notices on April 5, saying that their properties were to be demolished as they were built on water bodies, seasonal streams & drains. It was claimed in the petition that the administration served the notices without verifying the property details. Most of the residents who received the notices are illiterate & people from the lower strata of society with no proper knowledge about the outcomes, it was alleged.
It was also claimed in the petition that those served with the notices had valid property documents to prove their ownership & that most of them had nothing to do with the water bodies & the streams.
Satellite pictures of the area show that those who received the demolition notices reside far from the seasonal streams, drains & water bodies.
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