The Uttar Pradesh government has given its approval to the constitution of property damage claims tribunals in Lucknow and Meerut to recover damage to public and private property during riots and protests.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath provided his approval to the constitution of the tribunal under the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property Law, 2020, the State government said.
Stringent law
The Adityanath government had earlier this year notified an ordinance and armed itself with a stringent new law to recover compensation from those accused of vandalism months after violence during the anti-CAA protests in parts of the State.
Several PILs were filed in the Allahabad High Court challenging the legality of the law. The hearing in the case is still under progress, said Shashank Tripathi a lawyer who had filed a PIL challenging its constitutional validity. The case would be listed after constitution of a new bench, he added.
Twelve administrative divisions including Kanpur, Jhansi, Ayodhya, Azamgarh, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Gorakhpur will be under the jurisdiction of the Lucknow tribunal. Six divisions in west U.P. including Moradabad, Saharanpur, Agra and Bareilly will fall under Meerut.
The designated ‘Claims Tribunals’ will be authorised to investigate complaints and assess the damage. The chairperson of the Claims Tribunal would be a retired district judge while its members would be of the rank of additional commissioner.
The Claims Tribunal would have the power to attach the property of respondents and publicise their names, addresses and photographs to warn public against purchasing the property.
The Tribunal will also have all the powers of a civil court for the purpose of taking evidence on oath and enforcing the attendance of witnesses and compelling the discovery and production of documents and material objects, the notification issued earlier this year said.
