SC takes cognisance, to hear case today

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the tragic death of Himachal Pradesh Government’s lady official who was shot dead while carrying out the Court-mandated sealing of unauthorised hotel complexes in Kasauli.

With the accused hotel owner of Narayani Guest House who shot the fatal bullet still on the run, the Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta rebuked the police and State agencies for failing to prevent such an incident and allowing the accused to escape. Terming the incident “extremely serious” the Bench said if officials are to be killed in this manner, it may not pass any further orders. The Court will hear the State agencies and police on Thursday and pass appropriate orders.

Assistant Town and Country Planner Shailbala Sharma had gone to seal unauthorized constructions in Kasauli’s Narayani Guest House whose owner Vijay Singh shot her dead. Along with her, a Public Works Department (PWD) official was seriously injured and is undergoing treatment at PGI Chandigarh.

The officials were attacked while carrying out a Supreme Court mandated drive to demolish illegal structures in 13 hotels in Solan district. The Supreme Court had on April 17 directed the State Government to demolish unauthorised structures in 13 hotels in Kasauli and Dharampur areas of Solan, and four teams were constituted for this purpose.

The counsel for State Government appeared before the Bench and said that four teams of officials were simultaneously carrying out the sealing drive of which one was commanded by the deceased officer. The State pointed out that the situation there was peaceful as the police did not anticipate such a reaction.

The Bench disagreed claiming it had watched the video footage and related reports that showed an altercation ensued between the accused hotel owner and the official following which he fired three bullets at the raiding party. “We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill people,” the Bench observed, terming the incident to be a brazen act of violence.

On being questioned about why it failed to nab the accused, the state claimed that he fled from the spot. The top court had observed that the illegal constructions had put the entire city in danger, causing landslides, and ordered the demolition of such constructions.

Owners of several hotels, resorts and guest houses in Kasauli had approached the apex court challenging the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order to demolish or close down several such establishments which were extended illegally without approvals. The NGT order had come on a plea by an NGO, Society for Preservation of Kasauli and its Environs (SPOKE).