Prayagraj (UP), Aug 24 (PTI) Taking serious note of the rampant misuse of the UP Control of Goondas Act, an Allahabad High Court bench directed the authorities to frame uniform guidelines regarding its applicability.

The bench of Justice Rahul Chaturvedi and Justice Mohammad AH Idrisi passed the order on Wednesday on a petition filed by one Goverdhan of Aligarh.

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The court directed the authorities to necessarily spell out "general nature of particular allegations against the proposed goonda", his personal image among the masses, his social family background and then only pass a well-reasoned order while issuing a showcause notice under the Act.

The court stated that one cannot be treated to be a "habitual offender" unless there is a "tendency of recurrence of the offence".

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"The peculiar feature of this enactment is that the person who is branded as goonda should be ousted from the municipal limits of the city as a preventive measure by the executive authorities of the district," the court observed.

"The person either himself or as a member or leader of a gang, who habitually commits the offences mentioned in Section 2(b) of the Act or he has got the tendency to commit the offence time and again. If a person has a solitary case to his credit, he cannot be branded as a habitual goonda," it added.

According to the facts of the case, the Additional District Magistrate (Finance & Revenue) in Aligarh issued a showcause notice dated June 15 against the applicant under the UP Control of Goondas Act.

The applicant challenged this notice in the high court.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)