Uttarakhand: Uttarakhand government is all set to bring ‘Uttarakhand Public and Private Property Damage Recovery Bill’ to control miscreants who damage government and private property in the name of protests, in the budget session starting from February 26.

Under this bill, the losses incurred during protests and strikes will be recovered from the accused involved in the disturbance. To compensate for the loss, a tribunal will be constituted under the chairmanship of a retired district judge.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh had brought into effect The Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Bill in 2020.

Key Features of the Uttar Pradesh Damage Recovery Bill

• Empowers the state government to set up tribunals to decide claims for damage to property. 
   
• Tribunal to be headed by retired District Judge (as Chairperson) and officer of the rank of Additional Commissioner (as member).
   
• In addition to compensation, tribunal may also seek attachment of the person’s properties along with publication of his personal details.

In 2007, the Supreme Court took note of various instances where there was large scale destruction of public and private properties in the name of agitations, bandhs and hartals.

In March 2020, following the Supreme Court’s guidelines, the district authorities of Lucknow put up banners displaying the names, photographs and addresses of certain people who were accused of damaging property during protests in the city. 

The poster sought compensation from the accused persons and threatened confiscation of their properties if they failed to pay compensation. The Allahabad High Court held that the publication of personal details of people violated Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution.

 The Court noted that the publication of personal details of the accused persons merely to deter them from participating in illegal activities constituted an unwarranted interference in the privacy of the persons.  Thereafter, the U.P. Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated to create a mechanism for recovery of damages during any protest or riots.