NEW DELHI: The shooting of a woman official by a hotel owner during a demolition drive in Kasauli has brought illegal constructions across
Himachal Pradesh under the scanner of the
Supreme Court, which on Thursday asked the state government to file a status report on unauthorised structures and steps taken to demolish them.
The apex court directed the state to file a report by May 9 and said such a volatile situation had arisen because of the state government’s failure to take timely action against illegal constructions.
“It (illegal construction) is a huge problem for future. What are you doing to ensure that such constructions do not take place and what are the steps taken by you to demolish them. If you do not take action, then it will encourage people to violate the law,” the bench said.
The state advocate general told the bench that the government was alive to the problem and would take necessary steps to remove illegal constructions. He assured the court that adequate security would be provided to teams carrying out demolition drives. A guesthouse owner shot Shail Bala on Tuesday after she insisted on executing the
SC ruling ordering demolition of illegal constructions in the hill town.
As a team of the public works department (PWD) started pulling down a part of Narayani Guest House at
Mando Matkanda, its owner Vijay Singh (51) fired three rounds, leaving Bala dead and another officer seriously injured. Singh fled the scene and was arrested on Thursday from the Vrindavan-Mathura area in
Uttar Pradesh.
The bench, while ordering demolition of illegal structures on April 17, had said the owners were indulging in unbridled construction in violation of law in ecologically sensitive zones to make money. It had said such illegal structures could not be allowed as it would endanger the lives of tourists staying in the resorts.