In February, the UP government had informed the Supreme Court that it has withdrawn the 274 notices issued to recover damages for the destruction caused to public property during the protests prior to laying a law laying for it. (File) Days after the Uttar Pradesh government withdrew recovery notices issued over damages caused to public property in the state during the protests against the 2019 Citizenship (Amendment Act), Kanpur district administration began the process of returning fines collected from the accused persons who were booked for their alleged involvement in the protests.
The fine was collected for damaged causes to public and private property during the protests. On Tuesday, the Kanpur district administration handed over cheques to six persons.
In February, the UP government had informed the Supreme Court that it has withdrawn the 274 notices issued to recover damages for the destruction caused to public property during the protests prior to laying a law laying for it.
Accepting the submission, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant gave the state government liberty to proceed under the new law — The Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property Act, 2020 — and directed it to refund the fines already collected.
Following the apex court’s directions, the Kanpur district administration began the process of returning the fine collected from teh accused. “A chart was prepared of the persons from whom the fine was collected. As per records, Rs 3.66 lakh was collected from 33 accused persons in Kanpur. Officials have been directed to deliver the cheques at their doorstep,” said an official.
The administration has also issued notices to the accused informing them that the earlier recovery notice was being “withdrawn”. Additional District Magistrate, Kanpur, Atul Kumar said the cheques were prepared and sent to the tehsildar for distribution.
“I have got 33 cheques to distribute. On the first day, the team could trace just six persons and handed them cheques of Rs 13, 476 each. Many of them could not be traced because they have vacated their homes and shifted to a different address. We will trace them and hand over their cheques,” said Tehsildar, Sadar, Ritesh Kumar Singh.
In Kanpur district, the government had issued recovery notices to 44 persons living in two areas – Beconganj and Babupurwa. Among them, 33 had deposited the fine through bank drafts. “A total of Rs 2.83 lakh was collected from 21 people from Beconganj and Rs 6,970 was deposited by 12 of the accused in Babupurwa,” said an officer.
Meanwhile, the Claims Tribunal in Lucknow has issued fresh notices to the accused booked in Kanpur and directed them to submit their objection on the allegations levelled against them. Advocate Najmu Saqib, who is representing more than half of the accused from Kanpur, said they have filed the objection against the notices.
The next hearing for the case is on April 12.
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