Patna HC stays demolition drive in Nepali Nagar, but DM says it's already finished

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Patna: The Patna High Court has stayed the demolition drive in the city's Nepali Nagar area, but the district magistrate said that by the time he received the order, the 40-acre land was cleared of encroachment. The court stayed the process of demolition on Monday, and posted the matter for further hearing on July 6. Directing the authorities not to take any coercive action, the court asked the district administration to file a reply on the next date of the hearing.

"All encroachments have been removed from the 40-acre government land in Nepali Nagar. By the time the high court order came, the land was handed over to the housing board. The land belongs to the housing board. We have requested it to fence the land at the earliest," District Magistrate (DM) Chandrasekhar Singh said. 

The district administration will file its reply on the next date of hearing, he said. "After Sunday's violence during the demolition drive, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC was imposed in the area. No untoward incident was reported on Monday. Chief of Jan Adhikar Party Pappu Yadav along with his supporters came and started protesting. They were immediately removed," Singh said.

Police have so far registered four cases against those who tried to stop the demolition drive in the area, he said. Stones were thrown and cooking gas cylinders hurled at police when they reached the area with bulldozers on Sunday, officials said, adding that they had to use tear gas to bring the situation under control.

"Land mafia is quite active in Nepali Nagar. They first encroached on the government land and after that, fraudulently started selling it," Singh had claimed on Sunday.