The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court raised concerns on Monday regarding the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s assertion that its officials were unaware of the Supreme Court’s detailed directives on demolition and ‘bulldozer’ actions. The court questioned why the civic body did not access the orders directly from the Supreme Court’s website or seek legal counsel for clarification.
“If NMC does not have faith in newspaper reports about bulldozer action, could it not have taken legal guidance from its lawyers? The relevant apex court order is available on its website. Could it not have downloaded and examined it?” the court asked.
1601 & 1600/2025) filed by Aurangzeb’s Tomb Riots case prime accused Fahim Khan’s 69-year-old mother, Mehrunissa Shamim Khan, and 96-year-old Abdul Hafiz, whose property was partially demolished as his relative was made an accused in the Mahal riots. The pleas filed through counsel Ashwin Ingole challenged action taken by NMC following violence in central Nagpur in March 2025. A division bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas was hearing two petitions (Nos. During Monday’s hearing, the bench questioned basis of that explanation. The court asked whether NMC officials had made any attempt to access SC order from its official website and whether the civic body’s legal machinery had advised them about the directions issued by the apex court. The court has now given the civic body another opportunity to respond. NMC has been directed to file a fresh affidavit within two weeks explaining its position. The matter will be taken up for further hearing after the fresh response is filed.
The court’s questions came after NMC and its officials maintained in earlier affidavits that they had learnt about the top court’s judgment concerning bulldozer action through media reports but were not aware of the detailed directions contained in the order. The court had earlier given officials an opportunity to explain their stated lack of knowledge of Supreme Court’s directions.