The posters had earned ire of the High Court. (File)
The Lucknow administration on Thursday said that it will initiate the legal procedure of attaching properties of 13 people — who have been served notice to pay Rs 21.67 lakh for the alleged damage to public property caused during the CAA protests in December last year — from March 16, a day after the one-month deadline ends.
The administration had put up banners and hoardings with photographs and addresses of the 13 people and 44 others across the city last week earning the ire of the Allahabad High Court, which called it “unjust”, and ordered the immediate removal of the hoardings. With the matter now in Supreme Court, the administration is gearing up to start the property attachment process.
Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Trans-Gomti area of Lucknow, Vishwa Bhushan Mishra, had passed an order for recovery on February 13, asking the 13 people to deposit the money within 30 days or face the action of property attachment. With the deadline ending on March 15, Mishra told The Indian Express that the legal procedure for attachment of property will begin on March 16 if the money was not deposited.
The order stated that damages worth Rs 21.67 lakh will be recovered from Osama Siddiqui, Mohammad Hasim, Dharmeveer Singh, Mohd Kaleem of Jankipuram and another Mohammad Kaleem of Hasanganj, Mukhtar Ahamed, Mohammad Zakir, Mohammad Salman, Mubin, Wasim, Mohammad Shafiuddin, Mahenur Choudhury, Hafiz-ur-Rehman.
The order passed by Mishra also added that the police had not sought legal advice or help from the government counsel.
“It is also clear that in a violent protest where approximately 10,000 people took part, very few have been identified by police. The police have made insufficient effort due to which role of many people has not been established,” said the order.
On whether the cost of damages will be recovered after it is divided among the people, Mishra said, “It will be done based on ‘joint and several liability’ which means that one person is also liable for the amount and all of them are also liable together. Whoever is caught, we will recover it from them and then for division, they can file suit in civil court.”
“As written in the order passed by me, the Chief Treasury Officer (CTO) will submit a report to me about how much money has been collected. He will submit that report on March 16. Whatever money has been collected is fine, but for recovery of the remaining amount, a letter will be written to the District Magistrate asking him to start proceedings for land attachment according to the revenue rules. In addition to this, the Lucknow Police commissioner will write to the ADM court specifying how much recovery has been done and what efforts have been made for it,” said Mishra.
Asked what will be done with people who have no property, Mishra said, “That is a legal matter and I would not like to comment on it.”
Lucknow Chief Treasury Officer Manoj Tiwari said on Thursday, “Till now, no money has been submitted by anyone regarding the order passed by ADM (Trans Gomti) on February 13.”