Supreme Court Takes Action on Mumbai Gurudwara Demolition Case

On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a notice regarding a plea for contempt proceedings against officials of the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation (GMC) related to the demolition of a gurdwara.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan also ordered to maintain the status quo until the next hearing and issued a notice to the relevant respondents. Advocate Soumya Priyadarshini represented petitioner Praveen Jeevan Valodara.

The petitioner has requested the initiation of contempt proceedings against officials of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (a statutory body under the BMC) for demolishing a gurdwara, alleging they violated the Supreme Court's order preventing the demolition of properties.

Total disregard of temporary directives issued on September 17, 2024, and October 1, 2024

The petitioner said the alleged contemnors have violated the petitioners' right to shelter, which is guaranteed to them as per the Constitution of India.

The petitioner said that the demolition by the alleged contemnors took place on 15 October 2024, which is a complete violation of the interim orders of 17 September 2024 and 1 October 2024, in which the apex court had clearly ordered that demolition shall not be carried out anywhere across the country without permission.

The plea states that the alleged contemnors have demolished the said structure without the permission of this Court, and stated the reason for the said structure being on a public road, a fact which has not been recorded in any of the internal correspondence provided to the petitioner or in the records available with the petitioner.

The petitioner mentioned that he had been overseeing the gurdwara and residing peacefully with his family in the room of the mentioned building for years, similar to his predecessors since around 1955, as indicated by the documents.

The petitioner and his predecessors had also paid property tax for the said land and building, he added.