"If someone does illegal construction, govt has right to demolish within procedure": BJP MLA on SC verdict

Lucknow: After the Supreme Court verdict on the bulldozer action, BJP MLA Sidharth Nath Singh said on Thursday that the court had defined a procedure that the Uttar Pradesh government was already following and if someone makes an illegal construction, then the government has the right to demolish it within the procedure.
Speaking to ANI, MLA Sidharth Nath Singh welcomed the Supreme Court's judgement.
"SC said that illegal construction cannot be demolished. They defined a procedure for it. The UP government was already following that procedure... If someone does an illegal construction, then the government has the right to demolish it within the procedure... Now, if someone grabs government land and does illegal construction, then the bulldozer will run within the law," he said.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed that no demolition should be carried out without a prior 15-day show cause notice to the owner of the property and without following the statutory guidelines. The top court also said that the executive cannot become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him by demolishing his property.
"The executive cannot become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him by demolishing his residential/commercial property/properties. Such an act of the executive would be transgressing its limits," said a judgement delivered by a bench of justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, stating that the BJP government's bulldozer "will remain parked in the garage."
While speaking at the rally, Yadav said, "The Supreme Court has commented against the bulldozer which becomes the symbol of this (BJP) government. I thank the Supreme Court for this decision against the government."