HC extends stay on demolition in Dhanas colony

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 2

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today extended the stay on the demolition drive by the Chandigarh Administration against around 1,000 residents of the Dhanas colony, who had allegedly made construction on shamlat or government land, till Monday.

The petitioners had challenged the decision of the Chandigarh Administration to demolish the colony, allegedly built in violation of the New Capital Periphery Act, 1952. The petitioners had claimed the existence of more than 1,000 houses in the colony.

The petitioners had also submitted that the Chandigarh Administration had taken the decision to carry out the demolition without issuing notices to them or giving them an opportunity of hearing.

The petitioners prayed that their side of the story should also be heard by the Administration before initiating action of removing the construction. Counsel for the petitioners said the Administration should not go ahead with the demolition drive as a number of Muslims in the colony were on Ramzan fast.

Going into the background of the matter, the counsel said the Administration announced on June 27 that the colony would be removed since it had come up on shamlat land. However, the petitioners were under the impression that the colony had come up on private land and not shamlat land.