The SC on Monday agreed to hear a contempt of court petition against the UP government for suspending IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal for ordering demolishion of a wall at an under-construction mosque. The plea contended that she had followed an earlier order of the apex court which said that no unauthorised construction should be allowed in the name of religious structures.
The petition has been filed by advocate M.L. Sharma whose PIL against the suspension was dismissed by the apex court which said he had no locus standi to file the plea on behalf of the distressed officer. A bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, however, decided to entertain the contempt plea filed by him on the same issue.
In his plea, Mr Sharma has contended that action against 28-year-old Nagpal was in contempt of the SC order on preventing unauthorised construction of religious buildings on public land. The sub-divisional magistrate, a 2010-batch IAS officer, was suspended on July 27 ostensibly for ordering the demolition of the wall of an under-construction mosque in a village in Noida without following the due process.