{"id":181130,"date":"2022-04-25T20:30:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=181130"},"modified":"2022-04-25T20:30:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T15:00:15","slug":"demolishing-the-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/demolishing-the-rule-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Demolishing the rule of law\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

News:<\/span><\/b> Recently, the Supreme Court ordered <\/span>the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC)<\/span><\/b> to maintain \u201c<\/span>status quo\u201d <\/span><\/b>on the demolition drive against the illegal constructions in the Jahagirpuri Area, Delhi. <\/span><\/p>\n

Such demolition drives were also carried on the homes of the alleged rioters in <\/span>Khargone<\/span><\/b> in Madhya Pradesh and <\/span>Khambhat<\/span><\/b> in Gujarat which were also hit by communal violence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the arguments of the local authorities?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The NDMC issued a statement that the demolition was a part of a drive against \u201c<\/span>illegal encroachments\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the issues with the recently executed demolition drives?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

These actions of state and local authorities blatantly disregard the d<\/span>ue process of law<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>established judicial precedents<\/span><\/b> regarding evictions of the people from the permanent establishments.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Such actions undermine the <\/span>basic tenets of criminal<\/span><\/b> law. They imply the <\/span>brutal <\/span><\/b>use<\/span> of the <\/span>state power <\/span><\/b>for <\/span>collective punishment<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, most of the urban residents live on the <\/span>margins of legality<\/span><\/b>. According to the <\/span>Delhi Economic Survey 2008-09<\/span><\/b>, only about 24% of the city lived in \u201c<\/span>planned colonies\u201d<\/span><\/b> and the rest lived in <\/span>informal<\/span><\/b> or <\/span>unplanned areas <\/span><\/b>like <\/span>jhuggi\u00a0 jhopdi<\/span><\/i>\u202fclusters and unauthorised colonies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Draft Master Plan of Delhi, 2041<\/span><\/b> also acknowledges that <\/span>unplanned areas<\/span><\/b> have emerged as important places in Delhi. They provide <\/span>high density<\/span><\/b>, <\/span>mix-use hubs<\/span><\/b>, in addition to <\/span>affordable options<\/span><\/b> for housing, micro, small and medium enterprises.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>regularisation <\/span><\/b>of \u201c<\/span>unauthorised colonies<\/span><\/b>\u201d has become a norm in Delhi Since the 1970s. For example, In the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections in 2020, the Union Government launched the <\/span>PM-UDAY (Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana<\/span><\/b>) scheme which confers property rights to residents of unauthorised colonies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span> principles of natural justice <\/span><\/b>entails that<\/span> No public authority<\/span><\/b> can demolish buildings without giving the affected parties a <\/span>reasonable opportunity<\/span><\/b> to be heard. For example, the <\/span>Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957<\/span><\/b> and the <\/span>Delhi Development Act, 1957<\/span><\/b> mandates the authority to serve an <\/span>advance notice<\/span><\/b> before demolishing the permanent buildings.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u202f<\/span>Ajay Maken vs Union of India<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f(2019)<\/span><\/b>, the Delhi High Court invoked the idea of the \u201c<\/span>Right to the City<\/span><\/b>\u201d and the \u201c<\/span>Right to Adequate Housing<\/span><\/b>\u201d from international law. The court held no authority shall carry out eviction without <\/span>conducting a survey<\/span><\/b> and consulting the population on eviction and rehabilitation for those eligible. The locals should be given <\/span>\u201cmeaningful engagement<\/span><\/b>\u201d with respect to the relocation plans<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u202fthe <\/span>Sudama Singh vs Government of Delhi<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f(2010),<\/span><\/b> The Delhi High Court mandated that the state should comply with <\/span>fair procedure<\/span><\/b> before undertaking any eviction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The present case of demolition of homes and shops of alleged culprits of<\/span> communal riots<\/span><\/b> is the sign of <\/span>majoritarian justice<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

In addition to <\/span>judicial scrutin<\/span><\/b>y, the protection of the <\/span>rule of law<\/span><\/b> demands a <\/span>broader political discourse.<\/span><\/b> The issue of the <\/span>majoritarian upsurge<\/span><\/b> from the state and society is a great cause of concern,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/span><\/b>: The post is based on an article \u201cDemolishing the rule of law<\/strong>\u201d published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 25<\/strong><\/span>th<\/strong> April 2022<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: Recently, the Supreme Court ordered the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to maintain \u201cstatus quo\u201d on the demolition drive against the illegal constructions in the Jahagirpuri Area, Delhi. Such demolition drives were also carried on the homes of the alleged rioters in Khargone in Madhya Pradesh and Khambhat in Gujarat which were also hit… Continue reading Demolishing the rule of law\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-181130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}