SC to hear plea against demolition of 200 jhuggis at Delhi's Sarojini Nagar

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking an interim stay on the proposed demolition of around 200 'jhuggis' at Sarojini Nagar here and rehabilitation and relocation of homes of slum dwellers as per government policy.

A bench of justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy will hear the plea filed by a minor, Vaishali, a jhuggi resident whose 10th board examinations are starting on April 26, that homes in the area not be demolished for the time being.

On Friday, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana had taken note of the submissions of senior advocate Vikas Singh and lawyer Aman Panwar that the plea needed urgent hearing in view of the imminent threat of demolition of 'jhuggis' (shanties).

The apex court, however, had refused to extend the stay without hearing from authorities on last Friday.

The interim stay on demolition, granted by the Delhi High Court earlier, is ending on Monday.

This matter pertains to jhuggis' at Sarojini Nagar and the protection (against demolition) is only till Monday. I do not want the same thing as happened in Jahangirpuri to happen here. Please grant the status quo, Vikas Singh had argued.

During last week, the top court had come to the rescue of residents of the riot-hit Jahangirpuri area of the national capital by asking authorities to stall their anti-encroachment drive.

The plea, filed through Vaishali, said that the slum dwellers have been living there since 1980 and they do not want to stall any government project at the site.

However, the residents, besides deferment of a proposed demolition for the time being, wanted rehabilitation and relocation of their 'jhuggis' as per the provisions of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) Act.

The DUSIB Act casts an obligation on government authorities to frame a scheme for rehabilitation and relocation of 'jhuggis' before any action of eviction is undertaken.

The union ministry of urban development on April 4 issued eviction/demolition notices to all residents of the 'jhuggis' within one week.

The Delhi government had taken a plea before the Delhi High Court that the jhuggis' in question was not notified under the DUSIB Act and hence, the residents were not eligible for rehabilitation.

The single judge and the division benches of the high court had relied upon the submissions of the DUSIB and dismissed the plea of residents.

The appeal, filed in the apex court, referred to a response received under the Right to Information Act and said that the city government and its authorities have not notified any Jhuggi in Delhi under the DUSIB Act and have only prepared a list of 675 jhuggis.