PRAYAGRAJ, May 2 -- The Allahabad high court has stayed the demolition of a house in Varanasi's Dal Mandi area. The Varanasi Nagar Nigam had asked the owner of house no. 39/12 to demolish it within 7 days because it was in a dilapidated condition.

The bench comprising Justice Neeraj Tiwari and Justice Siddharth Nandan passed the order in a petition filed by Syed Abbas Murtaza Shamsi. Senior advocate SFA Naqvi, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the house was not mentioned on a list of dilapidated buildings of January 30, 2026. However, a demolition notice was suddenly sent on April 15, 2026 in the name of a deceased person Shamshu Nisha Begum rendering the whole process "void ab initio (void from the beginning)".

In its April 30 ...