Maradu Demolition: Supreme Court tears into petitioners, Senior Counsel for fraud on court

A Supreme Court Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Navin Sinha today came down heavily upon the petitioners and their Senior Counsel for playing a ‘fraud on the court” in the Maradu Demolition case.

. What irked the Bench was that the petitioners had obtained a stay order against the demolition from another Bench of Supreme Court during the court vacation.

. The Bench began by stating,

. “That Bench (Vacation Bench) should not have entertained the matter at all.”

. Stating that the petitioners were responsible for the other Bench committing judicial impropriety, Justice Mishra went on a tirade against the Senior Advocates who appeared in the matter.

. “This cannot be permitted. I had specifically turned down the prayer for stay. You then went to the other Bench. Should we draw contempt against Senior Counsel of this Court? Are you responsible fellows? What is happeneing in this court? Have ethics gone to the dogs? Three to four Senior Counsel are part of this fraud. You should have declined to appear. Is money everything for you? “, an agitated Justice Mishra said.

. Justice Mishra also hinted that a Senior Counsel was brought from Calcutta as part of the strategy to influence him.

. The petitioners proceeded to withdraw the case. The Court allowed the same while noting that it though it was inclined to pass strictures against the petitioners, it is not doing so.

. “There is absolutely no merit in these petitions. We are inclined to pass strictures in the entire scenario that has been created in these petitions, but since the counsel has prayed for withdrawal, suffice it to observe that in future such things should not happen in this Court.”

. The Court also made it clear that further petitions on this issue should not be entertained.

. “No further petition on this issue be entertained. The writ petitions are dismissed.”

. In the aftermath of the Kerala Floods, the Supreme Court had in May this year directed for the removal of all illegal structures built on the notified Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) at the Maradu municipality of Kerala’s Ernakulam District.

. The structures that were built in violation of the CRZ Regulations will have to be removed from the area within a period of one month, ruled the Supreme Court. While ordering the same, the Court observed that construction in CRZ areas can be allowed only after consultation with the Coastal Zone Management Authority.

. A review petition was later filed against this judgment by Holy Faith Builders and Developers, the builder of one of the apartment buildings on the concerned land. The review stated that the judgment was based on the incorrect understanding that the constructions are made in areas notified as CRZ III, when in fact that they were constructed in compliance with the CRZ norms.

. In another petition filed during the court vacation, the Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi ordered that the buildings in Maradu municipality in Kerala’s Ernakulam District should not be demolished for six weeks.

. It was against this writ petition and order that the present Bench has expressed its disapproval.

. With today’s order, the illegal buildings at Maradu will have to be demolished.

. [Read Order]

Maradu Demolition: Supreme Court tears into petitioners, Senior Counsel for fraud on court

Murali Krishnan

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