Lucknow, The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed local authorities to remove all remaining illegal encroachments from the district and sessions court premises in Lucknow and its surrounding areas.
The court has asked authorities to complete the exercise within five weeks if possible.
The court noted on Friday that 57 more encroachments had already been removed in compliance with its earlier orders, but said the exercise was yet to be completed.
A bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Rajeev Bharti passed the order while hearing two connected petitions concerning encroachments on the district and sessions court premises and other public places in Lucknow.
The court said that the 14 illegal structures had initially been removed in compliance with its earlier directions. Subsequently, 57 more encroachments were removed. The zonal officer of Zone-1 of Lucknow Municipal Corporation submitted a report dated September 8, along with photographs of the encroachments removed.
However, the bench made it clear that the exercise was still incomplete and directed the authorities to remove the remaining encroachments in terms of its April 7, 2026 order.
It also directed officials to strictly follow the safeguards prescribed in its August 4 order while carrying out further action.
In its August 4 order, the court directed that the 72 remaining encroachers be given a final opportunity to vacate their chambers or shops or establish before the competent authority the legal basis of their possession. In case they failed to do so, the authorities could proceed with demolition of the illegal structures.
The court had further directed that if notices could not be served, they should be published in a Hindi and an English daily, giving the affected persons at least 10 days to respond. To ensure that judicial work was not disrupted, the court permitted the demolition exercise to be carried out on Sundays as well.
The bench directed the police commissioner, district magistrate and municipal commissioner to coordinate and ensure adequate administrative and police assistance to the municipal authorities during the drive.
The matter has been listed for next hearing on October 26.
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