Allahabad HC slams UP police and civil officers for demolishing house despite stay order, calls it a culture of defiance.
Prayagraj: Today, on June 27, the Allahabad High Court recently came down heavily on officers of the Uttar Pradesh police and civil administration for demolishing a house despite a stay order issued by the Court. The case is titled Smt. Chhama vs State of UP and 3 Others.
Justice JJ Munir, who was hearing the matter, strongly criticised the conduct of the officers involved in the demolition.
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The petitioner, Smt. Chhama, had approached the High Court after her house in Baghpat district was brought down by local authorities, even though the Court had earlier ordered that the structure should not be touched.
Justice Munir, while hearing the matter, made a scathing remark:
“There seems to have come about a culture amongst the Executive Officers of the State, particularly, those in the Police and Civil administration to find a kind of pride in flouting judicial orders. It seems to give them a sense of achievement, rather than make them feel the guilt of being offenders. This matter cannot be taken lightly. It is well settled that any action done, whatever be its nature in violation of a judicial order, is a nullity.”
The Court highlighted the seriousness of demolitions done in violation of stay orders, noting that a physical act like demolition cannot be undone easily.
The Court observed,
“The restitution would be by reconstruction of the demolished building. The building here was constructed in the Harijan abadi. It was not a construction in some kind of a public utility land, like a pond, a khalihan or a land submerged under water. Therefore, in our opinion, this might be a case, where restitution ought be ordered, requiring the State to reconstruct,”
The background of the case reveals that an eviction order was passed against Chhama in July 2024, and her appeal against it was rejected in February 2025.
She then approached the High Court in March 2025. Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was also filed, demanding removal of the encroachment.
On May 5, 2025, the High Court had directed the Baghpat Collector to check whether any higher court had passed any interim order and, if not, to explain why the eviction had not yet been carried out.
Shortly after, Chhama mentioned her case for urgent hearing and secured a stay order. The High Court specifically directed that her house must not be demolished and no recovery action should be taken against her.
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Later, both the PIL and her plea were clubbed and listed before the same bench.
Despite this, the authorities went ahead and demolished her house. As a result, Chhama filed a contempt plea against the officials.
Since the Court did not have the jurisdictional roster to hear contempt cases at that time, it treated her petition as one against “wrongdoer”.
After going through the facts and photographs, the Court found that the demolition was indeed carried out in violation of its order.
The Court remarked that officials continued with the demolition even when they were shown a copy of the stay order.
The judge said,
“An order of the Court once passed in the presence of the learned Standing Counsel representing the Authorities is deemed to be communicated as soon as it is made. The respondents are all authorities of the State represented by the learned Standing Counsel, and, therefore, their presence in Court is always there. They have notice of all the orders passed by this Court through the learned Standing Counsel,”
The authorities had claimed that the stay order was uploaded late on the High Court’s website. However, the Court rejected this excuse.
“Even if there is a delay in uploading of the order and it has been passed in the presence of the learned Standing Counsel, and, the petitioner says that the High Court has passed a stay order, it is the duty of the Authorities to lay their hands back off something as drastic as demolition, until such time that the fact of a stay order being passed by this Court is verified. Upon hearing and an intimation of fact that this Court has passed a stay order, the Authorities should have immediately gone on the cautious mode and ascertained the said fact before proceeding further. Here, the photographs show that the order was already there, as the records show and well within the knowledge of the respondent-authorities and yet they went ahead with the demolition.”
The Court has now issued notices to the Collector, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), and the Tehsildar of Tehsil-Sadar in Baghpat district.
They have been asked to file individual affidavits explaining why they should not be held responsible for reconstructing the demolished house and restoring it to its original condition.
The deadline for filing these affidavits is July 7, 2025.
Advocate Vikrant Rana appeared on behalf of the petitioner, Smt. Chhama.
Case Title:
Smt. Chhama vs State of UP and 3 Others
Read Order:
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