Patna, July 4 (IANS) After two days of demolitions in Patna's Nepali Nagar and Rajiv Nagar, the Patna High Court on Monday stayed the action in the two localities, which, according to authorities, are illegal and encroach on government land.
Directing a stop to the demolition for two days, the court has also directed Patna Distict Magistrate Chandrashekher Singh to appear before it.
It has also directed the district administration to immediately release all the persons arrested on Sunday and Monday. The district administration has arrested 26 persons on the charge of stone pelting on a police party during the anti-encroachment drive.
According to the District Magistrate, Rajiv Nagar and Nepali Nagar were developed illegally by land mafias. While the registries of lands of these localities have been completely banned, still, many people have got the registry done from other places or took power of attorney of the land. The lands belong to the Bihar Rajya Awas Board and local land mafias illegally sold government land to innocent people, he said.
The district administration had served legal notices to every resident to vacate the land a month ago.
However, local residents claimed that they are own legal registry of lands and are also paying municipal taxes, electricity, and power bills for more than 20 years. If the land belongs to Bihar Rajya Awas board, how did they get government facilities like power supply and house tax was accepted, they asked.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Sanjiv Chaurasia has questioned the demolition drive, saying that District Magistrate has not given any of the documents he had demanded.
"I went to the affected area and demanded the documents under which the demolition drive was initiated from the District Magistrate but he denied them.
"As per the 1995 Patna high court order, the state government was directed to give adequate compensation to the land owners. The current rate of compensation is Rs 27 par Katha land. Besides, the authority has to give proper reasons for acquiring the land followed by its utilisation," Chaurasia said.
