Maintain status quo on proposed closure of 38 night shelters: HC to DUSIB

The Delhi High Court today directed the urban shelter improvement board here to maintain status quo with regard to 38 night shelters in the national capital which it was proposing to shut down.

The direction by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar came on a plea by a social worker challenging the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board's (DUSIB) March 13 order for closure of the night shelters.

The court also issued notice to the DUSIB and asked it to file a status report in response to the application by Sunil Kumar Aledia who has claimed that according to the occupancy report of the shelters in question, they are well occupied by homeless people.

The bench directed the board to maintain status quo regarding the shelters till the next date of hearing on April 2.

The application was filed by Aledia in his main PIL seeking directions to the DUSIB to immediately construct permanent shelters, instead of temporary ones, in areas such as Nizamuddin, Kashmere Gate, Bangla Sahib, Connaught Place, Azadpur, Chandni Chowk and Ramlila Maidan where the homeless are in high concentration.