Home & land › Demolition or eviction by government
Bulldozer action on our house after a criminal case
What usually matters in this situation, and the papers to keep ready before you meet an advocate or free legal aid (call 15100).
Your situation
- What is happening? My house or shop is to be demolished or sealed
Where you stand
- In your favour You are entitled to at least 15 days’ notice, a hearing, a reasoned order and 15 more days to challenge it.
Papers to gather
- Ownership, allotment, lease or possession papers, and property tax or electricity bills
Long possession and tax payments matter in every hearing. Where: Your records; municipality. - Sanctioned building plan, or an application to regularise
Only structures that cannot be regularised should be demolished. Where: Municipality; your architect. - Photos and video of the structure — and of the demolition if it happens
Needed for a court challenge or compensation. Where: Your phone and neighbours’.
You may also need, depending on your answers
- The notice or order, with the date you received it and the envelope — The time limits run from receipt.
- Your written reply to the notice, with receipt, asking for a personal hearing — A hearing is required before a final order.
What the law says
On 13 November 2024 the Supreme Court laid down binding directions: no demolition without a show-cause notice served by registered post and pasted on the structure, giving at least 15 days (or longer if local law allows) to reply; a personal hearing; a reasoned final order; a further 15 days before it is carried out so it can be challenged; and videography of any demolition. Officials who break these directions face contempt and must personally pay for restoration. The directions do not apply to unauthorised structures on public places such as roads, footpaths, railway lines or water bodies, or where a court has ordered demolition. Under the Street Vendors Act, 2014, no vendor may be evicted until the town’s vendor survey is complete and certificates issued (s.3(3)); eviction needs 30 days’ notice (s.18(3)); seized goods must be listed, and released the same day if perishable and within two working days otherwise (s.19). Slum eviction and rehabilitation depend on state law and policy; ask whether you were counted in the survey.
General information, not legal advice.
Saboot will also ask
- Did you get a written notice?
- Where is the structure?
Similar situations
- Got a municipal notice to demolish my house
- House demolished without any notice
- My shop or building was sealed by the municipality
- Our basti is being cleared and we have nowhere to go
- Asked to leave railway or forest land we have lived on for years
- Municipality removed my street stall or cart
- Municipality seized my goods and won’t return them
- Police or municipality demand money to let me sell on the street
Sources
- Supreme Court, In Re: Directions in the matter of Demolition of Structures, W.P.(C) 295 of 2022, 13 Nov 2024
- Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 — sections 3, 18, 19
The full guide: Government wants to demolish my house or shop, evict our basti, or remove my street stall · All situations