Supreme Court Orders Demolition Of Illegal Setbacks In 859 Meerut Properties Within 2 Months; Bars Compounding

In a continuation of its crackdown on unauthorized and widespread illegal constructions in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, the Supreme Court on Thursday (April 9) ordered the demolition of all unauthorized setbacks across 859 properties within two months, while pulling up the Uttar Pradesh authorities for allowing schools, hospitals, and even nationalized banks to operate from buildings that were "absolutely illegal and unauthorized."

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan made it clear that the "rule of law cannot succumb to public hue and cry," as it directed the authorities to demolish all setbacks, i.e., the mandatory open spaces around buildings that had been illegally encroached upon, across every single one of the 859 properties in the Shastri Nagar scheme area.

The proceedings arise from a contempt petition where the Court has been examining large-scale illegal constructions in Meerut's Shastri Nagar area. It may be recalled that on the last date of hearing on April 6, 2026, the Court had pulled up the former Meerut Divisional Commission for its earlier order halting the demolition of the illegal structure in defiance of the Court's order. The Court was informed that there were a total of 859 unauthorized structures, out of which 44 were used for commercial purposes.

Today, it was informed that 44 illegally converted properties include six schools, six hospitals, four banquet halls, three nationalised banks, and one NBFC. The bench expressed particular anguish over the presence of educational and medical institutions in unauthorized buildings, stating that "What is important for us is lives of innocent children, people, patients. We are not concerned with your business. You are doing business at the cost of someone's life."

"Who sanctioned this plan? Who gave the permission to put up this school? Where is the permission of the district education officer? Where is the license to run the school?",Justice Pardiwala questioned,

When asked by the Court about the recourse ahead, Senior Advocate Rajiv Shakdher, appearing for the UP Awas Evam Vikas Parishad, responded that the next step in the process would be to demolish all "setbacks", the mandatory open spaces that had been illegally encroached upon.

The Court accepted this submission and granted two months for the demolition exercise.

" There will be no question of compounding setbacks.We grant two months' time to demolish all setbacks.", the  Court ordered, making it clear that setbacks are not compoundable, meaning no amount of regularization or payment of fees can legitimize the encroachment of mandatory open spaces.

"They have said very clearly my instructions are set back cannot be compounded.", Justice Pardiwala said.

Procedure For Demolition

Further, the Court clarified the procedure for the demolition, asking the authorities to issue notice to all occupants regarding illegal setbacks, grant them 10-15 days to remove setbacks themselves, and if occupants fail to comply, authorities shall demolish at their own cost, and later on recover demolition costs from the defaulting occupants.

Authorities To Frame Plan For Dealing With Remaining 815 Unauthorized Properties

The Court noted that while 44 properties had been identified for immediate sealing, approximately 815 other unauthorized properties remained in the same scheme area.

The Court directed the authorities to formulate a plan for dealing with the remaining properties.

Direction To File Affidavit On 44 properties

The Court directed the authorities to file an affidavit containing the status of 44 properties, as indicated in the April 6 order, with a photograph of each property before and after sealing.

"The affidavit should also include photographs of each and every property. The photographs must be in two parts. The upper part of the photograph must be of before sealing and the latter part after sealing,", the Court said.

The Court concluded the hearing with a stern message that extended beyond Uttar Pradesh to all state machineries across the country.

"This litigation is an eye-opener for the state machinery of the state of UP. In fact, not just the state of UP, but for all the states. Had the authorities taken steps in the appropriate time in the right direction this situation would not have arisen."

The matter is next listed in July 2026.

Notably, another coordinate bench led by Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah on March 25, 2026, took notice of the rampant illegal use of land/residential building for commercial purposes across the country, and impleaded municipal authorities of all State and Union Territory capital cities and required them to file detailed affidavits.

Cause Title: LOKESH KUMAR KHURANA VS. RAJENDRA KUMAR BARJATYA, CONMT.PET.(C) No. 877/2025 in C.A. No. 14604/2024, BIMALENDU PRADHAN v. STATE OF ODISHA and connected cases.