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Court stays UP govt’s move to recover damages from anti-CAA protestors
The order was hailed by those accused of damaging public property during the anti-CAA protests in Lucknow in December last year. They alleged that the state government’s move of issuing recovery notices was illegal.
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Thursday stayed all proceedings and coercive action till next hearing against Syed Saif Abbas Naqvi, who was issued recovery notice for the anti-CAA protests by the Uttar Pradesh government.
A division bench of justices Alok Singh and Karunesh Singh Pawar ordered the state government not to take any coercive action against Naqvi till the next hearing of the case.
“Learned counsel for respondents (state government) is granted four weeks’ time for filing a counter affidavit. Thereafter, two weeks is granted to the petitioner (Syed Saif Abbas Naqvi) for filing a rejoinder affidavit,” ordered the court.
“In the meantime, no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner,” the court said.
The Yogi Adityanath government had issued an order on March 3, by which the petitioner and others were held jointly as well as separately responsible and liable for damages amounting to Rs 67 lakh. The court has fixed the next hearing for the case in January along with the bunch of other related writ petitions.
The order was hailed by those accused of damaging public property during the anti-CAA protests in Lucknow in December last year. They alleged that the state government’s move of issuing recovery notices was illegal.
In total, four recovery notices were issued against 57 protestors to realise an amount of Rs 1.55 crore.
The accused also challenged the competence of additional district magistrates (ADMs), who had served notices for the violent anti-CAA protests in Lucknow.
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“We welcome the court’s stand. State government’s stand of sending recovery notices to the innocent people was an illegality,” said Saif Abbas.
Similarly, retired IPS SR Darapuri, who was also one of the accused, also welcomed the order.
“Additional district magistrates don’t have the power to send recovery notices. It’s an illegal act. I am sure justice will prevail,” said Darapuri, whose matter too is pending with the court.
Deepak Kabir, a social activist who was also accused in the violence that swept the state capital last year, too, welcomed the development.
“Since the beginning, we maintained that the government’s move of serving recovery notices is illegal. We are happy that the court has stayed all proceedings and has given (us) four weeks’ time,” said Kabir.
