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No blanket ban on bulldozer action, but can't punish selectively: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday, while declining to entertain a batch of contempt petitions against alleged "arbitrary" demolitions using bulldozers, made a clear observation that while it cannot impose a blanket ban on "bulldozer action", there should not be cherry-picking targets to punish people. Rejecting the pleas, the Supreme Court held that such disputes should be examined by the respective High Courts. The bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, said each case involved disputed facts requiring detailed scrutiny, making the High Courts the appropriate forum to determine whether the safeguards laid down by the top court had been breached. Notices issued earlier by the Supreme Court in some contempt matters would not preclude the High Courts from deciding the cases independently. During the hearing, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi argued that the Supreme Court should intervene in cases involving what he described as "egregious violations" of its directions. Referring to a petition concerning the demolition of certain mosques in Somnath, he submitted that the alleged breach was evident from the affidavits and could be demonstrated within minutes. According to him, the state's own affidavit showed that the mandatory procedure prescribed by the Supreme Court had not been followed. He questioned why the Supreme Court should undertake such inquiries when High Courts were equipped to summon records and examine evidence. The Bench also dealt with a petition from Madhya Pradesh after Senior Advocate S Muralidhar submitted that the High Court had declined to entertain the matter on the ground that the district collector was unaware of the Supreme Court's earlier judgment. In its final order, the Supreme Court directed that records in all pending contempt petitions be transferred to the respective High Courts, which may call for official records or seek evidence through district courts if required.