Relief To YSRCP As Andhra Pradesh High Court Halts Demolition Of Party Offices Unless Public Safety Is At Stake

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has disposed of a batch of writ petitions filed by YSRCP challenging the demolition notices issued to the party offices of 10 districts, with a direction that no demolition order should be confirmed without hearing the Party concerns.

Justice B. Krishna Mohan also said demolitions can be carried out only if the building structure in question is adversely affecting public safety. The order stated,

"The petitioners are permitted to submit the explanations/ additional explanations, if any, enclosing all the necessary documents and the other proofs if any in support of their claims within a period of two weeks from today to the authorities concerned for the above said purpose.
The power of demolition should be exercised by the respondent authorities concerned only if the deviations made during the construction are not in public interest or cause public nuisance or hazardous or dangerous to the public safety including the residents therein and if the deviations are minor, minimal or trivial, or do not affect public at large the respondent authorities shall not resort to demolition."

The Party primarily contended that its Offices were being targeted following the change of governance within the State.

The notices under challenge were issued on 24th June and the batch of petitions were filed on 26th June.

It was argued that the notices were not issued by a competent authority. It was also contended that demolition orders should be passed as a last resort and not whimsically at the behest of the ruling party.

High Court directed the State to not take any coercive actions against the petitioner-Party without giving an opportunity of explanation and sufficient time to file a reply. It also ordered that the only criteria under which the demolition order could be advanced was 'public safety.'

Previously, the Bench had sought to dispose of the writs by directing the government officials to conduct proceedings, following only the procedure established by law. However, the petitioners vehemently opposed this by bringing to the notice of the Bench that in a similar case when similar directions were passed by the Court, the State undertook to comply with the orders but irrespective of that, demolished the construction the very next day.

The State on the other hand argued that the issuance of a demolition notice is proof in-itself that the procedure was being followed.

After hearing both sides, the Bench had reserved its orders in the matter last Friday.

Case no.: WP13253 of 2024

Case Title: YSRCP vs State of AP

Counsel for petitioner: Tagore Yadav Yarago

Counsel for State: GP for Municipal Administration.

Click Here To Read/Download Order