SC on Kasauli: Will stop giving orders if people carrying them out are killed

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday termed the killing of Kasauli’s assistant town planning officer Shail Bala Sharma, who was leading a demolition drive in the hill station, “extremely serious”, rebuked the Himachal government for failing to prevent it, and said it may stop passing orders if people are killed for executing them.

Sharma was leading the drive against illegal constructions in various resorts and hotels in Kasauli when she was shot dead on Tuesday, allegedly by the owner of a hotel who was resisting the demolition.

The demolitions were being carried out on the direction of the top court against 13 hotels and resorts.

“We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill people,” a visibly upset bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta remarked.

The matter was brought to the bench’s notice by the lawyer for the Himachal government. The bench directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra so that it could be assigned to an appropriate bench.

Media reports were placed before the bench by a lawyer representing the society on whose plea the demolitions had been ordered.

The judges wondered if the security was inadequate when Sharma went to the site.

Counsel for Himachal Pradesh government explained that 40 police personnel accompanied the demolition team and that Sharma had gone to the guest house after lunch without informing the police team.