Sahara, UP Govt file contempt pleas in SC

The fight between Uttar Pradesh government and Sahara on demolition of commercial complex Sahara Saher reached the Supreme Court for the second time in a week on Tuesday, with both sides alleging contempt of apex court by the other. Within hours of the Supreme Court ordering a status quo on the demolition matter on Monday, the two sides battled on the ground with each threatening to move the apex court and they accordingly did so one after another. While Sahara rushed to the court alleging that Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) had uprooted a temporary fence at Sahara Saher despite the status quo order, LDA justified its action saying the Subroto Roy Group company Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd had indulged in erection of a tin fencing in violation of the apex court direction. A bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir said that it will hear both the contempt applications on Wednesday. It had passed the status quo order on Monday on a petition filed by the state government challenging the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court's order that restrained LDA from demolishing Sahara Saher and also asked it to restore possession of land to the company. Sahara, which had mentioned the matter through senior counsel Kailash Vasudev, alleged that the civic body demolished the temporary tin fencing despite being intimated about the status quo order. He said that the entire exercise of demolition was carried in presence of top state officials. "...determined to terrorise the petitioner (Sahara), the contemnors (officials) again came with a large contingent of workers (approximately 250 in number) led by LDA vice-chairman Ram Bahadur himself and district magistrate Chandra Bhanu and started demolishing and dismantling the tin sheets manually," the company stated. Sahara said that the dismantling of the temporary fencing of tin sheets and removal and theft of these pursuant to High Court's orders of June 19 and 20 and prior to status quo order amounted to "clear and willful disobedience." The company sought directions to the state government to return the tin sheets and restore the temporary fencing which existed on June 23 when the apex court passed the status quo order at the contemnors' own cost. Besides, the group also sought to restrain the contemnors - LDA chairman Vijay Shankar Pandey, vice-chairman Ram Bahadur, secretary S S Mishra, Senior Superintendent of Police Akhil Kumar and others - from taking any coercive action against it pursuant to "false FIR lodged against it." However, UP government's Advocate General Shail Dwivedi, who mentioned the matter, countered the allegation, saying the tin fencing was erected after the court order was passed on Monday. LDA had lodged a FIR immediately after it came to know that people belonging to Sahara commercial group were trying to construct boundary wall of tin sheet on the site, the petition stated. While submitting that it had not handed over possession of the property in dispute after its demolition, LDA said that the company was not at all permitted to put tin sheet boundary in place of the demolished boundary walls. "Respondents/contemnors got the tin sheet fitted in place of boundary walls in the afternoon on 23rd June itself, which was immediately removed by the petitioner in order to ensure compliance of apex court's order," LDA said. It also added that "some labourers accompanied with certain people having guns claiming to be Sahara employees have tried to forcibly enter... and try to put certain temporary fencing." According to the state, the attempt made by the group to put tin sheet walls was "manifest defiance of the interim order" and such conduct amounted to "willful disobedience of the apex court orders."

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