Relief for six,000 residents of Indira Colony as HC halts demolition drive

New Delhi

Over 6,000 residents of Indira Colony in north-west Delhi have obtained a brief reprieve because the Delhi High Court ordered a keep on a demolition drive scheduled for Saturday and directed that no coercive motion be taken till the following listening to on July 31.

The court docket handed the interim order on a petition filed by the Indira Colony Resident Welfare Association, which challenged an eviction discover issued by the Northern Railway on July 4, citing “unauthorised occupation” of railway land. The court docket noticed that the difficulty “requires additional examination”.

Broken promise

Amid authorized proceedings, the difficulty drew sharp political reactions. At a press convention, Leader of the Opposition Atishi mentioned: “Before elections, the Prime Minister promised each slum dweller a pucca home beneath the slogan ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Makaan’. But ever because the BJP got here to energy, bulldozers have arrived at poor individuals’s houses.”

Former Shalimar Bagh AAP MLA Bandana Kumari mentioned panic unfold within the space on July 4 when the discover was pasted. “This is CM Rekha Gupta’s constituency. Despite her assurances, bulldozers razed one jhuggi earlier. Now, Indira Camp faces the identical risk,” she mentioned.

While there was no instant response from the BJP, the CM had beforehand assured residents that no demolition would happen with out authorized course of or rehabilitation, and that any demolitions beneath approach had been court-directed.

Policy breach

The petitioners argued that the eviction violated Article 21 of the Constitution, which ensures the precise to life and dignity, together with shelter, and that authorities had not adopted due course of beneath the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015, and the 2016 Draft Protocols.

“None of the required steps had been taken,” it mentioned, stating that the colony seems as Serial No. 74 on the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board’s (DUSIB) record of 675 eligible jhuggi jhopri (JJ) bastis. The protocol mandates that the land-owning company should ship a request to DUSIB, which should look at the eligibility of the basti for rehabilitation. Only if discovered ineligible, can demolition proceedings start, the plea mentioned.

Appearing for the Northern Railway, the Central authorities’s counsel submitted that the land belongs to the railway and that the occupants had been in “unlawful possession”. The eviction discover, the counsel argued, was issued in accordance with the legislation.