Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, JULY 7—While human rights activist Shoaib Khan and former IPS officer S R Darapuri have challenged the recovery notices issued to them in connection with the loss of public property in violence during anti-CAA protest at Parivartan Chowk in Lucknow on December 19 last year, Congress leader and social activist Sadaf Jafar is also preparing to challenge the recovery notice.
Hearing on the two petitions are scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
Advocate AB Solomon, who filed a petition in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on behalf of Shoaib Khan yesterday, told India Tomorrow that the recovery notices as also threats to seize the properties and auction them is totally in contravention of the existing law because the executive had no power to assess the liability in cases pertaining to damages of public and private property.
Solomon said that under the existing law in the country, the power of assessing the liability was vested in respective high courts. The high court, under the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in a 2009 order, has to appoint a claims commissioner on the basis of a petition by the sub-divisional magistrate seeking recovery of damages. And the claims commissioner would assess the liability after giving sufficient opportunity to the person from whom the government wants to recover the damages. And the claims commissioner would submit its report with the amount of liability to the high court.
Moreover, according to Solomon, the executive or the sub-divisional magistrate of the area would approach the high court for recovery from a person only if he/she has been found responsible for damages through a court trial only.
Since the persons accused of having been involved in damaging the public property have not been held guilty of damages through a process of adjudication, Solomon said that the executive could neither approach the high court for apppinting a claims commissioner nor can it directly serve recovery notices on its own. “So, what the Lucknow administration is doing now with regard to persons involved in damaging the public property as mentioned in police report, is totally illegal, and cannot stand the legal scrutiny”, claimed Solomon.
He said, “This is a clear-cut violation of law and amounts to harassment”.
According to Solomon, Shoaib Khan, S R Darapuri and Sadaf Jafar, as per notices issued to them, are liable to pay Rs. 64 lakh separately.
Nitin Mishra, counsel for Darapuri, said he had filed two petitions in the court: one regarding a notice about recovery of damages and another about a notice asking to pay the damages within seven days failing which the property would be seized and auctioned.
According to Mishra, the accused has to be given minimum of 15 days time in case of payment for damages. But in case of Darapuri, the SDM has given only seven days time which is violation of the existing law.
Even in the chargesheet, police have clearly said that Darapuri was not present on the site of the protest. Police also failed to provide video evidence of the presence of Darapuri on the protest venue. It was on this ground, Mishra said, Darapuri was granted bail. According to Mishra, Darapuri has been charged of abetment to the violence though Darapuri was under house arrest on December 19, the day the violence took place at Parivartan Chowk in Lucknow.
Congress leader Sadaf Jafar told this scribe that she would also move the court against the “arbitrary order”.
Regarding the SDM and his team holding video-recorded interactions with her children on recovery notices when she was not at home, Jafar said, “It is illegal on the part of the administration to prepare videos of children talking to the officials and shouting that your mother is a stone -pelter in front of neighbour. It amounts to intimidating my minor children: one aged 12 years and another 17 years”.
She said, “ If I have made a mistake, punish me. Why are you intimidating my children and family members”.
