Allahabad High Court
Case Details
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD WRIT - C No. - 29995 of 2025 Sri Namo Narain Gupta And 15 Others State Of Uttar Pradesh And 2 Others Versus .....Petitioner(s) .....Respondent(s) Counsel for Petitioner(s) Counsel for Respondent(s) : Pramod Kumar Sinha : C.S.C., Dharmendra Singh Chauhan Court No. - 29 HON'BLE MAHESH CHANDRA TRIPATHI, J. HON'BLE ANISH KUMAR GUPTA, J. 1. Heard Sri Pramod Kumar Sinha, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri
Legal Reasoning
J.N. Maurya, learned Chief Standing Counsel for the State and Sri D.S. Chauhan, learned counsel for the respondent no. 2. 2. Present petition has been filed for the following relief: (i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Certiorari calling for the records and quashing the impugned show cause notice viz. the impugned show cause notice viz. in Case No.466/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 to the Petitioner No.1, in Case No.00000441/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 05.08.2025 the Petitioner No.2, in Case No. 429/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 05.08.2025 the Petitioner No.3, in Case No.482/ R.D.A./2025-26 dated 08.08.2025 the Petitioner No.4, in Case No.467/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.5, in Case No.00000539/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 05.08.2025 the Petitioner No.6, in Case No.458/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.7, in Case No.463/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.9, in Case No.00000434/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 05.08.2025 the Petitioner No.10, in Case No.461/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.11, in Case No.473/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 08.08.2025 the Petitioner No. 12, in Case No.447/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.13 & 15, in Case No.446/R.D.A./2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.14 and in Case No.455/R.D.A. /2025-26 dated 06.08.2025 the Petitioner No.16, issued by the respondent No.2 (Annexure Nos. 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14, 15, 16 & 17 to the writ petition respectively) 2 WRIC No. 29995 of 2025 (ii) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the Respondents not to demolish the construction of the petitioners standing over the Gata No.6, 7/1 & 8 Min. situated at Village Ajitpur (Sadar), Pargana & Tahsil Sadar, District Rampur and Gata No. 22/1 situated at Village Sayeednagar Hardopatti, District Rampur and interfere in peaceful possession of the petitioners over there without recourse to law." 3. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that though show cause notices were issued to different petitioners on three different dated but they were altogether served on 22.8.2025 to all the petitioners. Therefore, since the notices were served after 16 days from the date of issuance, the petitioners could not submit their reply within time to the Authority. In this backdrop, learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners may be accorded an opportunity of hearing before any demolition proceedings are adhered to by the respondents. 4. Reliance has been placed on the judgement of the Apex Court in the case of In Re: Directions in the matter of demolition of Structures in Writ Petition (Civil) No.295 of 2022. In the aforesaid judgement the Apex Court has observed that no demolition should be carried out without serving a 15 days prior notice to the person concerned. For ready reference, Paragraph no.91 of this judgement is being quoted as under: "91. At the outset, we clarify that these directions will not be applicable if there is an unauthorized structure in any public place such as road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies and also to cases where there is an order for demolition made by a Court of law. A. NOTICE i. No demolition should be carried out without a prior show cause notice returnable either in accordance with the time provided by the local municipal laws or within 15 days' time from the date of service of such notice, whichever is later. ii. The notice shall be served upon the owner/occupier by a registered post A.D. Additionally, the notice shall also be affixed conspicuously on the outer portion of the structure in question. iii. The time of 15 days, stated herein above, shall start from the date of receipt of the said notice.
Decision
iv. To prevent any allegation of backdating, we direct that as soon as the show cause 3 WRIC No. 29995 of 2025 notice is duly served, intimation thereof shall be sent to the office of Collector/District Magistrate of the district digitally by email and an auto generated reply acknowledging receipt of the mail should also be issued from the office of the Collector/District Magistrate. The Collector/DM shall designate a nodal officer and also assign an email address and communicate the same to all the municipal and other authorities in charge of building regulations and demolition within one month from today. v. The notice shall contain the details regarding: a. the nature of the unauthorized construction. b. the details of the specific violation and the grounds of demolition. c. a list of documents that the noticee is required to furnish along with his reply. d. The notice should also specify the date on which the personal hearing is fixed and the designated authority before whom the hearing will take place; vi. Every municipal/local authority shall assign a designated digital portal, within 3 months from today wherein details regarding service/pasting of the notice, the reply, the show cause notice and the order passed thereon would be available. B. PERSONAL HEARING i. The designated authority shall give an opportunity of personal hearing to the person concerned. ii. The minutes of such a hearing shall also be recorded. C. FINAL ORDER i. Upon hearing, the designated authority shall pass a final order. ii. The final order shall contain: a. the contentions of the noticee, and if the designated authority disagrees with the same, the reasons thereof; b. as to whether the unauthorized construction is compoundable, if it is not so, the reasons therefor; c. if the designated authority finds that only part of the construction is unauthorized/noncompoundable, then the details thereof. d. as to why the extreme step of demolition is the only option available and other options like compounding and demolishing only part of the property are not available. D. AN OPPORTUNITY OF APPELLATE AND JUDICIAL SCRUTINY OF THE FINAL ORDER. i. We further direct that if the statute provides for an appellate opportunity and time 4 WRIC No. 29995 of 2025 for filing the same, or even if it does not so, the order will not be implemented for a period of 15 days from the date of receipt thereof. The order shall also be displayed on the digital portal as stated above. ii. An opportunity should be given to the owner/occupier to remove the unauthorized construction or demolish the same within a period of 15 days. Only after the period of 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice has expired and the owner/occupier has not removed/demolished the unauthorized construction, and if the same is not stayed by any appellate authority or a court, the concerned authority shall take steps to demolish the same. It is only such construction which is found to be unauthorized and not compoundable shall be demolished. iii. Before demolition, a detailed inspection report shall be prepared by the concerned authority signed by two Panchas. E. PROCEEDINGS OF DEMOLITION i. The proceedings of demolition shall be video-graphed, and the concerned authority shall prepare a demolition report giving the list of police officials and civil personnel that participated in the demolition process. Video recording to be duly preserved. ii. The said demolition report should be forwarded to the Municipal Commissioner by email and shall also be displayed on the digital portal." 5. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the considerate opinion that since notices have already been issued to the petitioners by the Rampur Development Authority, the petitioners are granted three weeks' further time to file a reply to the same. It is expected that the Rampur Development Authority shall consider the reply of the petitioners and pass a speaking order in accordance with law, after giving opportunity of hearing to the petitioners and taking necessary comments from the district administration qua the status of land in question. 6. Until the same is decided, the respondents are restrained to take any coercive action against the petitioners. 7. With the aforesaid direction, the writ petition stands disposed of. (Anish Kumar Gupta,J.) (Mahesh Chandra Tripathi,J.) September 9, 2025 Kirti Digitally signed by :- SMT KIRTI MISHRA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad