Noida authority razes illegal sheds, trees in Grand Omaxe before HC stays action

Residents of Grand Omaxe society in Noida’s Sector 93B on Friday woke up to bulldozers trying to enter their society, as the Noida authority officials went about demolishing illegal constructions, trees and others encroachments on the common area within the premises. The action came despite the Allahabad high court issuing an oral direction on Friday noon asking the authority to cease and desist. It later issued a written order staying any further demolition at the society till October 20 when the emergency writ petition filed by residents will be heard next.

But by 4pm Friday, the Noida authority officials razed sheds, gardens and boundary walls erected by 17 ground floor flats.

“We have razed illegal constructions at 17 flats on Friday, but there are several others still standing. We have informed the other residents to get these cleared as soon as possible. Today’s action will be reviewed by the authority CEO and further action will be taken accordingly,” said Ishtiyaq Ahmed, chief architect and town planner, Noida authority.

The issue of encroachments at the residential society came to the fore this August after a video of self styled politician and society resident Shrikant Tyagi allegedly abusing and assaulting a woman resident went viral on social media. The woman in her complaint to police claimed that she was assaulted and abused after she objected to him putting up palm trees in the common lawn in front of his flat. Tyagi was later arrested from Meerut, where he had fled to evade arrest.

The emergency petition filed by residents was heard by the bench of justice Jayant Banerji and Manoj Kumar Gupta around Friday noon and they instructed the Noida authority counsel to not take any coercive action till the case was heard in detail at 2pm.

“We orally requested Kaushalendra Nath Singh, counsel for Noida authority, to instruct officials to not proceed with the demolition exercise as we proposed to take the matter up in post recess session at 2pm. Post recess, Kaushalendra Nath Singh said he had immediately communicated to the authorities to stop the demolition,” said the order.

“All the respondents shall file counter affidavit by the next date. In the meantime, respondent no.2 (Noida authority) and its officials are restrained from demolishing the offending constructions and the parties will maintain strict status quo in respect thereof until the next date of listing,” the order said.

The day started with society residents locking their two main gates to stop the Noida authority officials from entering the premises around 7am. Several residents sat outside in protest, asking that their constructions not be razed. Many also showed documents that mentioned that the extra spaces were bought by them from the builder at premium rates.

Nina Garg, a resident of one of the flats from where a shed was removed, said, “The authority officials asked us to remove the shed. I told them that it was a temporary construction, but they insisted that we remove it. It was built for our safety as objects and clothes kept falling on us from upper floors. This was a vengeful action by the Noida authority.”

While hundreds of residents protested in the common area, apartment owners’ association (AOA) members were conspicuous by their absence.

By late afternoon, the authority managed to enter the society through a rear gate and started the demolition work. One of the marked homes was spared after its occupants said the extended portion was a temple. Ritu Singh, the owner, said, “We paid extra money to build the extended portion and turn it into a small temple. People from across the society visit the temple. We cannot let them bulldoze it.”

The new trees planted by Tyagi’s wife Annu Tyagi were also uprooted after much protest. But by Friday late evening, she had replanted them. Authority and police teams were trying till late night to get them removed.

Annu said, “Our contention is that if there is action against my house, there should be action against other residents too who made encroachments; else, all residents should be left in peace.”

“We have had these constructions for years now. We have papers to prove they are legal, but the authority is not listening. There is no legal basis for such dictatorial action for we did not even get any notice,” said Deep Singh, one of the ground floor residents.

Noida authority officials said notices were served to 98 houses in 2019 where encroachments was first found at the society. A fresh survey to assess the current status was done on Wednesday when 132 houses were found to have encroachments, and they were given time till Friday to remove the constructions.

About 60 police personnel were also deployed to handle any law and order situation along with a team from the PAC.