Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on Sunday promulgated an ordinance for recovery of damages to public and private properties from rioters and protesters and to provide for setting up of tribunals to adjudicate claims for damages and recover them.
Titled “theUttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Ordinance,2020” was promulgated two days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathapproved the ordinance in a Cabinet meeting on Friday.
It was promulgated four days after the Supreme Court refusedto stay the Allahabad High Court’s March 9 order for removing the stategovernment’s name-and-shame posters displaying photographs and names of thealleged rioters involved in damaging properties during in anti-CAA protests inDecember last year.
As per the statement of object and reasons (SOR) of theordinance, it aims at dealing with “all acts of violence at public placesand to control its persistence and escalation and to provide for recovery ofdamage to public or private property during hartal, bundh, riots, publiccommotion or protests”.
The ordinance, as per its SOR, is also aimed at, amongothers, for setting up claim tribunals to investigate the damages caused and toaward compensation related there to”.
The governor promulgated the ordinance invoking herextraordinary legislative power under Article 213 of the Constitution whichempowers a governor to promulgate it when the state’s legislative assembly isnot in session and upon his or her satisfaction for existence of circumstancesfor its promulgation.The UP Cabinet hadapproved the ordinance on March 13, a day after a vacation bench of the apexcourt, comprising justices U U Lalit and Aniruddha Bose, refused to stay theAllahabad High Court’s order for removal of the government’s anti-CAA stir,name-and-shame posters.