The Calcutta High Court on Friday stayed the demolition of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Jahangir Khan's personal residence [Jahangir Khan v. The State of West Bengal and Ors.].
Justice Suvra Ghosh passed the order after taking note of submissions that both Khan and his wife were presently in jail and were unable to receive or participate in any hearing pertaining to the demolition of his house.
"The petitioner was admittedly in custody at the relevant time. No attempt was made to serve notice upon him at the correctional home. Though the authority submits that the authority was ignorant about the said fact, the issue needs to be dealt with at a later stage...In view of the above, this Court is inclined to hold that the State needs to substantiate service of notice of hearing by the Hearing Officer as well as the Executive Officer upon the petitioner before further demolition of the petitioner’s residential house is allowed to continue," the Court said.
The Court, therefore, restrained any further demolition of Khan's house until the matter is heard next.
"The respondents are restrained from continuing with further demolition of the residential house of the petitioner till the adjourned date," the Court ordered.
Khan has been in judicial custody since June 8, following his arrest in connection with multiple criminal cases, including those involving allegations of extortion, murder, robbery, criminal intimidation and electoral offences.
In a plea filed before the High Court, Khan said that he came to know of the State's move to demolish his house through social media, after his son visited him in jail earlier this month.
The plea alleges that these actions by State executives reflected a classic example of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeting members of other political parties, especially those belonging to the Muslim community.
Senior Advocate Kishore Dutta represented Khan and submitted that no notice of the demolition hearing was tendered to Khan. Dutta also refuted the State's claims that the notices were affixed at the property of the TMC politician. Dutta also told the Court house that Khan's house has been vandalised and that a sanctioned building plan of the residence was stolen. The property was vacant and damaged, he said.
The State was represented by Advocate General Surojit Nath Mitra, who stressed that the hearing notices were not only affixed at the residence of Khan but the act was videographed as well.
He also argued that no sanction plan was issued in favour of the construction of Khan's home and that the TMC leader had neglected to appear in any of the demolition hearings despite being served notice.
Justice Ghosh eventually directed the State to produce videos of the notices being served and stayed further demolition.
The Court has listed the matter for further hearing on November 16.
Advocates Biswaroop Bhattacharya, Sumitava Chakraborty, and Bratati Pramanick also appeared for Khan.
Advocates Nilanjan Bhattacharjya, Jayuita Dhar Chakraborty, Anindya Halder and Joy Ranjan Dhar appeared for the State along with the AG.
The Executive Officer of South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad and the Additional Executive Officer were represented by advocates Tapash Kumar Mondal and Partha Sarathi Basu.
[Read Order]