NEW DELHI, MAY 09,
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought to know from the Himachal Pradesh government the names and designations of officials who were posted at Kasauli when the unauthorised constructions came up there.
The court also asked the State to apprise it about the specific steps taken to ensure that no unauthorised construction was carried out in the entire State and how it proposes to tackle the issue.
A Bench of Justices M.B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta also asked the State about the steps it proposes to take to remove the debris of unauthorised constructions that were demolished in several hotels at Kasauli.
“Unless you take action and remove four-five people from service, nothing will fall in line,” the Bench told the Advocate General of Himachal Pradesh.
Asks State to file status report
The court asked the State to file a status report on the questions raised by it and posted it for hearing in August first week.
The Supreme Court had termed very unfortunate the killing of a woman officer, who was supervising the demolition of an unauthorised construction, allegedly by a Kasauli hotel owner, saying it was due to the “non-implementation” of law.
Assistant Town and Country Planner Shail Bala Sharma, on May 1, went to supervise the demolition of unauthorised construction at Kasauli’s Narayani Guest House where its owner Vijay Singh allegedly shot her dead, while another government official accompanying her sustained serious injuries.
The court had pulled up the State government and said it cannot “encourage” people who break the law and carry out illegal constructions while asking it to ensure the implementation of the law on illegal constructions.
