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The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered maintenance of status quo regarding construction of residential units under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana at the disputed site in Lucknow’s Jiamau, over which gangster-leader Mukhtar Ansari’s son is claiming ownership. This controversy started when Lucknow Development Authority demolished the bungalow of Mukhtar and his sons with a bulldozer in the year 2020. Presently the government is planning to build flats at this place.
The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh, criticized the Allahabad High Court during the hearing in this case. Sibal told the court that his petition was listed several times in the High Court, but no interim stay was granted on it.
On October 21 last year, the apex court had directed the High Court to conduct an expeditious hearing on the application regarding interim stay. When the matter came up for hearing again, Sibal told the bench that despite this the hearing did not take place. On this the bench said, “We cannot say anything about some High Courts. But Allahabad High Court is one of those high courts which one should be worried about.”
Under this order, the Supreme Court directed the High Court to expeditiously hear the case and asked it to maintain status quo at the construction site. The court said the petitioners have clarified that the authorities have started construction work on plot number 93 of Jiamou, over which they are claiming ownership.
The court warned that if third party rights were established, the petitioners could suffer irreparable harm. According to Abbas Ansari, his grandfather had purchased a portion of this land, which was gifted to his wife and later passed on to the petitioner and his brother through his will.
The petition also states that on August 14, 2020, through an ex-parte order, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate had declared the land as government property, following which the petitioners were evicted in August 2023. After this, Abbas Ansari had filed a petition in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.
When his writ petition came up for hearing, it was listed with other matters to avoid conflicting orders. Abbas Ansari said that his writ petition has been repeatedly listed before the division bench, but no interim stay order has been passed in his favor, whereas it has been done in other cases. “After taking possession of the plot of the petitioner, the authorities have started construction of residential units at that place under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,” the plea said.
