"Unconstitutional": Executive can't act as judge, demolish houses without due process, says SC

‘Officers behind illegal demolitions will have to restore properties at personal cost and pay damages’

Stating that "executive cannot become a judge," the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that state governments cannot demolish the house of a person accused or convicted of a crime citing their criminal background. The top court said that failure to follow due process would be dealt with the "heavy hand of the law".

The court termed it as "wholly unconstitutional" if a property is demolished only because a person is an accused.

"The right to shelter is one of the facets of Article 21. Depriving such innocent people of their right to life by removing shelter from their heads, in our considered view, would be wholly unconstitutional," a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said.

It said the demolition of a house solely because the person residing there is either an accused or convicted in a criminal case will amount to inflicting "collective punishment" on the entire family.

"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," the court said during hearing pleas challenging house demolitions by state governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In these cases, Muslim tenants were accused of committing crimes that triggered communal tensions.

In a stern warning to officials who carry out demolitions in violation of judicial directions, the court stated that any such officials will be held personally liable to restore the demolished properties at their own cost, in addition to paying damages.

Furthermore, the Court warned that officials who disregard these directions will be subject to contempt of court proceedings.