HC stops demolition at Sahara Shaher

LUCKNOW: A day after portions of Sahara Shaher were demolished by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), the Sahara India group received a major relief on Thursday when the high court directed that the land that had been vacated in the demolition exercise be restored to Sahara. The court also permitted reconstruction on it.

The state government, according to sources, has decided to move a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court against the high court order. The high court on a writ petition filed by the Sahara group, pulled up the LDA for carrying out the demolition late in the night and without serving a notice.

It also directed the state government to issue a circular banning demolitions between 5 pm to 9 am anywhere in UP. In a late night drive on Wednesday, the LDA demolished some buildings in Sahara Shaher, spread over 270 acres of land in the posh Gomti Nagar area.

The LDA officials had claimed that the demolition was carried out to reclaim land that had been illegally encroached upon by the Sahara group. The LDA squad demolished some portions of the boundary wall, an auditorium where Bollywood stars invited by Sahara used to perform shows, health club, theatre, watch tower, hospital, a building called Jal Mahal and some living areas.

The Sahara group moved a writ petition before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, on Thursday. The chief standing counsel PN Gupta on behalf of the LDA, said that a team of Sahara representatives had met LDA officials on June 13 and accepted that they had encroached upon some land and had themselves voluntarily demolished some part of it on Tuesday.

The LDA claimed that it carried out the demolition exercise on Wednesday as some portions of the encroached still remained in the possession of Sahara. Mr Gupta said that the encroached land was meant for the construction of a 30-meter wide zonal road as per the masterplan approved for the city.

Sahara���s counsel Raghvendra Singh said that the demolition carried out by the LDA was illegal as no prior notice was served to the Sahara group and it was carried out in the middle of the night. He also submitted before the court that interim orders have been passed by the civil court regarding the said property, which directed the government to maintain status quo.

The court also directed the state government not to demolish any building owned by a person, society, or corporate body without serving a prior notice and prohibited carrying out any demolitions between 5 pm to 9 am.