On Kasauli shooting, Supreme Court says will stop passing orders if ‘people are killed’
On Tuesday, a Kasauli hotel owner shot dead a town planner who was implementing demolition orders issued by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday termed the killing of Kasauli’s assistant town planning officer Shail Bala Sharma, who was leading a demolition drive in the hill station, “extremely serious”, rebuked the Himachal Pradesh government for failing to prevent it, and said it may stop passing orders if people are killed for executing them.
Sharma was leading the drive against illegal constructions in various resorts and hotels in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, when she was shot dead on Tuesday, allegedly by the owner of a hotel who was resisting the demolition.
The demolitions were being carried out on the direction of the top court against 13 hotels and resorts.
“We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill people,” a visibly upset bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta remarked.
The matter was brought to the bench’s notice by the lawyer for the Himachal Pradesh government. The bench directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra so that it could be assigned to an appropriate bench.
The owner of Narayani guest house allegedly chased and shot Sharma following an altercation.
Media reports were placed before the bench by a lawyer representing the society on whose plea the demolitions had been ordered. The judges wondered if the security was inadequate when Sharma went to the site.
Counsel for Himachal Pradesh government explained that 40 police personnel accompanied the demolition team and that Sharma had gone to the guest house after lunch without informing the police team. According to the lawyer, the police team was then in a neighbouring guest house, Shivalik, where a demolition was underway.
The suspect allegedly fled after shooting Sharma. An official of the Public Works Department (PWD) was injured. The court was informed that a warrant was pending against the hotel owner for threatening to commit suicide if his hotel was pulled down.
The bench refused to accept the explanation. “But that is not borne out by facts. We read that one cop ran after him but he brandished his revolver and got away. Why couldn’t he be stopped?”
The judges said Sharma was “implementing our order.” To this, the state counsel replied: “We (state) are all trying to implement the order. The demolition drive was also the order.” Justice Lokur shot back and asked: “By killing people?”
The Supreme Court took cognisance of the incident and noted in its order: “It’s quite clear that some of the petitioners are acting with complete impunity and have no regard for rule of law.”
It added: “The action of the accused guest house owner is a brazen defiance of the order.”
Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh police continued a hunt for of hotelier Vijay Singh and declared a reward of R1 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
A police officer said combing operations were being carried out in the nearby forest areas to catch Singh. The police detained a hotel owner who had spoken to Singh minutes before the shooting.
Police said Singh had fired from a licensed pistol. “It was a 3.2 bore pistol and we are probing from where he got the license for a pistol and from where it was purchased,” superintendent of police (Solan) Mohit Chawla said.
The police started an inquiry against police personnel who accompanied Sharma , PWD employees and official who were at the site to demolish the illegal structures raised by hoteliers in Kasuali. The police personnel reportedly fled after the shooting.
Singh 54, worked as an assistant private secretary to director (civil) at the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board’s headquarter in Shimla. “Vijay was very professional with his work,” said director (civil), P.K Kohli, his immediate boss. “ I never found anything wrong with his conduct and there were no complaints against him.” Kumar joined the state electricity board in 1985.
The government also ordered an enquiry into the incident, to be conducted by divisional commissioner, Shimla. The report will be submitted within 15 days, the officials said. Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur expressed shock and grief over the killing and warned that such incidents would not be tolerated.
On Wednesday, uneasy calm prevailed in Kasauli as the demolition drive restarted in the afternoon. Top officials of the town and country planning department, accompanied by police personnel, carried out the demolitions.
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