Nearly a month after around 150 homes in Surat’s Nasirnagar slum settlement were reduced to rubble, Gujarat High Court on Thursday came down heavily on the state government, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), the police and Torrent Power over the controversial demolition, questioning who authorised the operation and why it was carried out without following due process.
While directing the civic body to prepare a rehabilitation plan for the displaced families, the court also sought explanations from the police over the absence of an FIR and asked Torrent Power to clarify who instructed it to disconnect electricity to the demolished homes, as the mystery surrounding the so-called “ghost demolition” continues to deepen.
Hearing a petition filed by residents of the Nasirnagar slum in the Ved Darwaja area, Justice Nikhil Kariel on Thursday expressed serious concern over the absence of accountability in the demolition of the houses. The residents have alleged that bulldozers demolished their homes without any prior notice, demolition order, or legal procedure, despite police and municipal officials being present during the operation.
The court observed that even the demolition of a single house without following due process “cannot be countenanced,” and questioned how nearly 150 houses could be demolished without any authority accepting responsibility.
High Court Orders Rehabilitation Plan
During the hearing, Justice Kariel orally directed the Surat Municipal Corporation to prepare a definite rehabilitation plan for the displaced residents by Monday while the petition remains pending.
“I will not hear a submission that you do not have accommodation. Rent tents if you have to… The axe has to fall, and it will,” the judge orally remarked, making it clear that the civic body must immediately address the humanitarian crisis faced by the affected families.
The court also questioned why senior police officers and municipal officials were allegedly present during the demolition if authorities now claim it was not an official civic exercise.
Court Questions Police Response
The High Court asked the Gujarat government to place a personal affidavit from the Surat Police Commissioner before the court on Monday explaining the police response to complaints made by the affected residents.
The court observed that if the Police Commissioner was informed that around 150 houses had been demolished, there were only two possibilities: either it was an official demolition carried out by the municipal corporation, or the police must explain why no FIR had been registered over such a large-scale demolition.
The court further stated that the Police Commissioner could not simply ignore the allegations.
Justice Kariel also said that if the petitioners’ claim that a Deputy Commissioner of Police was present during the demolition is found to be correct, the officer would have to personally appear before the High Court. However, if the demolition is established to have been an officially sanctioned exercise, such personal appearance would not be required.
Torrent Power Asked to Explain Power Disconnections
The High Court also directed Torrent Power to explain who instructed the company to disconnect electricity connections to the demolished shanties.
The court asked the petitioners to serve a copy of the petition on Torrent Power’s legal representatives and directed the company to appear before the court with appropriate instructions on the next hearing scheduled for June 29, 2026.
According to the court, Torrent Power’s response could help determine whether the directions to disconnect electricity originated from the Surat Municipal Corporation or from private individuals.
Authorities Must Explain Who Ordered Demolition
The court noted that conflicting positions had emerged from different authorities and said merely identifying who physically demolished the houses would not be sufficient. It observed that if such a large-scale demolition had occurred without following due process, the government machinery could not escape accountability.
Referring to recent Supreme Court judgments that mandate due process before demolitions, the High Court repeatedly questioned who authorised the demolition, why police and municipal officials were allegedly present at the site, and why no criminal case had been registered despite complaints from residents.
Justice Kariel orally observed that the material before the court suggested only two possibilities: either the Surat Municipal Corporation itself carried out the demolition in violation of mandatory legal procedure, or municipal officials acted in their individual capacities while misusing their official positions.
In either case, the court observed that the civic body could not avoid responsibility.
Court Also Criticises Petitioners’ Pleadings
While expressing concern over the demolitions, the court also criticised the manner in which the petition had been drafted.
Justice Kariel described the pleadings as inadequate for a matter of such constitutional importance, observing that numerous government officials and private individuals had been made respondents without specific allegations explaining their individual roles.
“I am much more annoyed with the pleadings,” the court orally remarked, adding that allegations contained only in affidavits cannot substitute proper pleadings in a writ petition.
However, the court clarified that shortcomings in the petition would not prevent it from examining the larger constitutional issues raised by the demolition.
Background: The ‘Ghost Demolition’ Controversy
The Nasirnagar demolition has triggered a major political and legal controversy in Surat after nearly 100 houses in the Katargam area’s slum settlement were demolished while police personnel and municipal officials were allegedly present, yet no government agency has accepted responsibility for ordering or carrying out the action.
The controversy intensified because the Surat Municipal Corporation has consistently maintained that it never issued any demolition order.
According to reports, the demolitions took place on June 3, when bulldozers razed around 100 homes, leaving dozens of families homeless. Residents claim they received no official notice, legal announcement, or prior warning before the demolition. Many families say they had lived in the area for nearly four to five decades and belonged largely to working-class and lower middle-class communities.
The incident has since been widely referred to by locals as a “ghost demolition” because while police officers and SMC personnel were allegedly present during the operation, no department has accepted responsibility for carrying it out.
Residents have repeatedly questioned who ordered the demolition, who brought the bulldozers, under whose authority the homes were demolished, and why police and civic officials failed to stop the exercise if it was unauthorized.
BJP MLA Also Raises Questions
The controversy deepened further after BJP MLA Vinu Moradiya publicly questioned the demolition and sought answers from civic authorities.
Moradiya said that after speaking with the Municipal Commissioner, he was informed that the Surat Municipal Corporation had not issued any demolition order. According to him, the municipal team had only visited the site for legal land demarcation and road margin measurements, and there was no official record of any demolition drive.
He said that since no authority other than the municipal corporation has the legal power to demolish houses, the incident raises serious questions about whether someone took the law into their own hands.
SMC Denies Any Role
Surat Municipal Commissioner M. Nagarajan has maintained that the civic body’s officials were present only to carry out land demarcation in connection with a long-pending matter.
According to him, the land belongs to a private entity, and the demolition may have been carried out by that private party using its own machinery. He reiterated that the Surat Municipal Corporation had no role in demolishing the structures.
SMC Standing Committee Chairman Rajan Patel also denied that the corporation conducted the demolition. He stated that police deployment had been sought only for land demarcation and that the civic body had ordered a detailed inquiry to determine who actually carried out the operation.
Residents Allege Officials Witnessed Demolition
Residents, however, maintain that police officers in uniform and municipal personnel remained present while bulldozers demolished their homes.
They allege that women and children pleaded with authorities to stop the demolition, but the operation continued. Locals have argued that if the demolition was unauthorized, police should have demanded a valid demolition order or magistrate’s permission before allowing it to proceed.
Local resident Javid Shah has questioned why authorities failed to intervene despite allegedly witnessing the demolition.
Protests, Detentions and Ongoing Investigation
The demolition sparked protests across Surat, with around 50 people, including Congress workers and local residents, being detained by police while protesting outside the residence of the Surat Municipal Commissioner.
The controversy further escalated after questions emerged over a notice linked to the land that reportedly bore the signature of an official who had already proceeded on indefinite leave.
The demolition has left dozens of families homeless, with residents claiming that many had lived in the settlement for 40 to 50 years and received no warning before losing their homes.
Authorities have since initiated an inquiry into how such a large-scale demolition could occur in the presence of police and civic officials without any official demolition order and without any government department accepting responsibility.
A similar demolition controversy has also been reported from Mandwa Phalia in Bharuch district’s Amod taluka, where around 30 families allegedly lost their homes. Residents there claimed that some houses built under the Sardar Patel Housing Scheme were also demolished. Following complaints, police arrested the main accused, Bashir Ali, along with a JCB driver in connection with that case.
Also Read: Surat’s Demolition Mystery: Nearly 100 Homes Razed, No Agency Accepts Responsibility https://www.vibesofindia.com/surat-demolition-mystery-nearly-100-homes-razed-no-agency-accepts-responsibility/
