From THE HINDU
Friday, June 23, 2006
by Siddharth Narrain
"The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Delhi Government not to demolish the slum cluster [sic] at Nangla Machi in the Capital for four weeks.
That this Special Leave Petition is directed against the interlocutory order passed by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi vide which the Hon’ble High Court, without hearing the people who were going to be affected by the said order, in total contravention of their fundamental right of Right to Shelter under Article 21 of the Constitution, international conventions and also the government policy in this regard, directed the Delhi Development Authority and the Commissioner of Delhi Police to remove all the slum dwellers from Nangla Machi slum without waiting for their proper resettlement/relocation.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
(CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION)
{Order XVI Rules 4(1) (a)}
(Under Article 136 of the Constitution of India)
SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) NO.____________ OF 2005.
(Against the interlocutory order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Delhi dated 05.04.2006 in WP(C ) No. 3419 of 1999)
On May 09, 2006, Hon'ble Justice Ruma Pal and Justice Markandeya Katju of the Supreme Court, set a time of three weeks for the demolition of the remainder of Nangla Maanchi. The half an hour hearing was held in Court Number 02 (as item number 16) of the Supreme Court, Barakhamba Road, Delhi, from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM.
"Stay on the removal of jhuggis near Pragati Maidan"
Translation of report from Dainik Jagaran and Navbharat Times, two Hindi dailies, Page 01, May 03, 2006
The stay order passed by the Supreme Court in Nangla Maachi jhuggi case (2nd May 06), in response to the Special leave Petition filed (on 26th April 06) by Advocate Prashant Bhusan is enclosed. The Supreme Court has stopped the demolition of the homes in Nangla Maachi, by MCD/Slum & JJ department in pursuant to the direction of the Delhi High Court (5th April 06). The case is again coming for hearing on 9th May 2006.
Regards,
Sharmila Bhagat
Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education
In an order granting interim relief to Nangla Maachi, the Supreme Court has stayed the demolitions of the remaining houses in Nangla until the 9th of May, 2006.
The honourable justice Vijender Jain passed certain orders specifically concerning Nangla on the 5th of April, in the High Court.
Some houses have identity cards and other documents predating 1998 and in some cases 1994. The details were not dwelt upon, but it seemed that the MCD had made some intimation or report to the effect that these people would be relocated.
A division Bench of the Delhi High Court, comprising Justices Vijender Jain and Rekha Sharma, appointed Justice Usha Mehra to head the Yamuna removal of Encroachment Monitoring Committee.
The Bench, in its order, observed that that the hope and expectation of the Delhiite to see the Yamuna restored to its pristine glory should be fulfilled.The Division Bench also observed that despite the claim of the Delhi Government that it was spending crores of rupees under the 'Clean Yamuna' project, people did not find any change.
"Rejecting all contentions, the [Supreme Court] Bench ruled: 'There does not exist any legal concept which confers a legal right upon an encroacher to be rehabilitated."
"The court said the demand for rehabilitation would not gain any legal ground, even if a government had promised resettlement to encroachers on public land.
"The rehabilitation of the guallas (milkmen) of Bhubaneshwar [Orissa] had been engaging attention of the Orissa Government since 1987 and it had gone to the extent of initiating the process of identifying land for the purpose."
From The Times of India, Thursday, February 9, 2006
