HC declines to protect house for which BJP MLA had `batted'

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a petition seeking a stay on demolition of a house, which was in the news last week when local BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya assaulted a civic official.

Vijayvargiya had attacked the official with a cricket bat in full public view when a municipal team arrived to pull it down, citing its dilapidated condition as the reason. The occupants were opposed to the demolition. The house is located in Ganji Compound here. However, the high court directed the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) to provide within two days a temporary shelter elsewhere for the family living in the house.

"The IMC's bid to dismantle the dilapidated house is in a larger interest so I will not intervene," Justice Rohit Arya was quoted as saying by the petitioner family's counsel Pushymitra Bhargava. "Though the court did not pass stay order, it directed the IMC to provide a dwelling facility temporarily within two days. The family can live at the place for three months," he added.