The Hon’ble Supreme Court while adjudicating a Suo Moto Writ Petition captioned “In Re Manoj Tibrewal Akash, 2024 INSC 863”(registered on the basis of a letter by a senior journalist) held that the state must follow due process of law before taking action to remove illegal encroachments or unlawfully constructed structures and issued a slew of directions to be followed before pursuing a road widening project. The demolition of the petitioner’s ancestral house in the present case was done without giving any proper notice and only through the public announcement of drum-beating. The Hon’ble Court observed that such conduct of the state authorities was “completely high-handed and without the authority of law” which warranted an interim punitive compensation of Rs 25 lakhs to the petitioner while also granting him liberty to exercise other legal remedies for compensation.The Hon’ble Court came down heavily upon the State by holding that Bulldozer justice is simply unacceptable under the rule of law and will reduce the constitutional right to property under Article 300A to a dead letter.
