The Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 1, ordered Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj Development Authority to pay Rs 10 lakh to each petitioner for demolishing their houses in 2021.

Terming the Prayagraj Development Authority’s act as “inhuman and illegal”, a bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said such cases “shock our conscience.”

“Residential premises of the petitioners have been high handedly demolished in the manner which we have discussed in detail. Carrying out demolition in such a manner shows insensitivity on the part of the statutory development authority,” the Supreme Court said.

“The authorities and especially the development authority must remember that the right to shelter is also an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the Apex court reminded the Prayagraj Development Authority.

In 2021, the Prayagraj Development Authority demolished the houses of a lawyer, a professor and three others, assuming the land belonged to gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was killed on live TV in 2023.

The petitioners approached the Supreme Court after their plea was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court, challenging the Prayagraj demolition.