Days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bench stayed the demolition drive in Haryana's Nuh questioning whether the drive was targeting buildings mostly owned by Muslims and if it was an “exercise in ethnic cleansing”, the case has now been transferred to another bench. A Bench of Justices Arun Palli and Jagmohan Bansal took up the matter today at 11 am and has put the PIL before CJI. The hearing has been adjourned for next Friday.
On August 8, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a stay on the demolition drive conducted by the Haryana government in Nuh in a strongly worded order, questioning the state government's intention of targeting a particular community in the guise of law and order problem. "Apparently, without any demolition orders and notices, the law and order problem is being used as a ruse to bring down buildings without following the procedure established by law," the High Court had observed.
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“The issue also arises whether the buildings belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being conducted by the State,” the division bench of Justice G.S Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan had stated in their order, according to a report by LiveLaw.
Ahead of the hearing of the matter today, the case has been transferred to another bench. It was not immediately clear why the case was reassigned to the new bench. The earlier bench also ordered the Haryana government to state how many buildings were demolished in Nuh and Gurugram in the past two weeks and whether any notices were issued to the residents prior to the demolition drive.
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"We have apprised the court that it is not at all a case of ethnic cleansing. All are equal and government never works like this. For the government, all have equal rights. The entire procedure is followed before the demolition drive is carried out," said Haryana's AAG Deepak Sabharwal on suo motu case against Nuh-Gurugram demolitions.
