Overview
- Heavy machinery levelled more than 100 homes in Nasirnagar during a demolition drive that began on May 30, leaving dozens homeless and many without identity papers.
- The Gujarat High Court has described the razing as prima facie unauthorised and directed the Surat Municipal Corporation to file a proposal to rebuild or re-accommodate the displaced by the next hearing.
- Surat Municipal Corporation suspended five civic engineering officers after an internal fact-finding report and opened a departmental inquiry into their roles in the operation.
- The court has questioned why police officers present at the site did not intervene and has issued notices, including to a private builder named in petitions who is alleged to have sought the demarcation that preceded the demolition.
- Displaced families are in temporary shelter and NGOs and petitioners are pushing for criminal accountability and on-site rehabilitation as the court and state authorities continue investigations and hearings.