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New Delhi: A three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Thursday (July 16) declined to hear a batch of pleas alleging contempt of the top court’s November 2024 ruling against “bulldozer justice,” directing the petitioners to approach their respective high courts instead.

Senior advocates Sanjay Hegde, C.U. Singh and Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing on behalf of the plaintiffs, urged the court to rule on the cases directly rather than defer to high courts, citing specific instances of the 2024 judgment being flouted, including a fruit stall demolition and a mosque razed despite a status-quo order.

The bench, which also included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, said the pleas raised disputed questions that needed case-by-case adjudication. Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati agreed with this view, observing that the petitions came from across the country. Justice Bagchi further noted that the 2024 ruling cannot be read “as a statute” and should be divorced from the facts of the case.

Referring to contentious practice utilised by state governments, especially those governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where authorities demolish homes and premises of individuals under the garb of........

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