Supreme Court Halts Jamshedpur Illegal Building Demolitions: Interim Stay Granted

Jamshedpur: The Supreme Court, in its interim order on Monday, stayed the demolition of the 24 illegal buildings in Jamshedpur.The demolition drive of the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) stems from the writ petition filed by a city lawyer, Rakesh Jha, in the high court in 2018.An overwhelming number of the buildings, which were constructed allegedly in deviation of the approved layouts and were identified for the demolition drive, are commercial structures built in the upmarket Bistupur and Sakchi, besides Golmuri.In the majority of cases, basements approved for parking were illegally converted into commercial spaces.Hearing the batch of petitions filed separately by different building owners, the bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notices to all concerned parties, including the state govt, East Singhbhum district administration, JNAC, and the building owners, to file replies within four weeks. “The Supreme Court will hear the matter extensively after the replies are filed by the concerned parties within the given time frame. The next hearing will be held tentatively on March 9,” said Prakash Jha, senior counsel for one of the petitioners.The petitioners argued before the bench that demolition should only be the last resort after exhausting all options.Incidentally, the Jharkhand high court, on Jan 14, 2026, passed orders to demolish the unauthorised buildings by March 9, 2026.