Yogi Adityanath govt takes ordinance route to for recovering damages to public properties during violent anti-CAA protests

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Friday approved “UP Recovery of damage to public properties Ordinance-2020” for recovery of losses due to damage to government and private properties during political processions. The decision in this regard was taken by a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday evening. “The cabinet has approved UP Recovery of damage to public properties Ordinance-2020 for recovery of losses of government and private properties during political processions, illegal agitations,” UP Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna told reporters after the cabinet meeting. [caption id=“attachment_6740911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] When asked about the rules and regulations regarding this, the minister said, “Niyamawali me sari cheez spasht ho jayegi” (Everything will be clear in the rules and regulations being framed). “As per the SC decision to constitute recovery tribunal to recover losses to government and private properties in political and illegal agitations in the country, the resolution to bring the ordinance has been passed in the cabinet,” he said. Cabinet Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said presently recovery was done through government order (GO) but after the SC orders the ordinance was brought in. He also said that during the cabinet meeting all the ministers praised the chief minister for his decision “to approach Supreme Court as it will help prevent incidents of vandalism and damage of properties in future.” The Supreme Court had on Thursday told the Uttar Pradesh government that there is “no law” which backs its action of putting up posters on roadsides with details of those accused of vandalism during anti-CAA protests in Lucknow. The top court, while referring the appeal of the state government to a larger three-judge bench next week on the ground that it required “further elaboration and consideration”, put a poser saying whether the fundamental right to privacy of alleged protesters can be waived by the state by “castigating them for all times” to come. A vacation bench of justices U U Lalit and Aniruddha Bose did not stay the Allahabad High Court’s 9 March order asking the Lucknow administration to remove the posters. The Uttar Pradesh government had moved the top court challenging the Allahabad High Court order. The high court had also directed the district magistrate and the Lucknow police commissioner to submit a compliance report on or before 16 March. The posters were displayed to “name and shame” the accused who had allegedly caused damage to public property during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the state capital on 19 December last year. Besides IPS officer SR Darapuri, activist-politician Sadaf Jafar is among those whose names and photos have been put up at major road crossings in Lucknow.