The Delhi High Court has directed authorities to provide basic necessities such as food, clean drinking water, livelihood, and transport facilities to individuals who will be relocated from the slums at Bhairo Marg. The court also directed that alternative shelter should be provided to the cattle residing in a cow shelter run by a petitioner organization on the land. In February, a single judge had ordered authorities to provide alternative shelter for the cows of the gaushala’ located in the slum area at Bhairo Marg, clarifying that the condition of the maximum period of stay of three months shall not be applicable to the cattle, which are to be moved to the alternate bovine shelter. The eviction notice required all slum dwellers of Bhairo Marg, near Pragati Maidan, to voluntarily demolish their dwellings or be removed with the help of police.
The Delhi High Court has ordered authorities to provide basic necessities such as food, clean drinking water, livelihood, and transport facilities to individuals who will be relocated from the Bhairo Marg slums that are set to be demolished.
Despite the Delhi government’s efforts to rehabilitate slum dwellers on paper, the ground reality is far from desirable, according to the court. Therefore, the court has reiterated that the right to housing, which is a part and parcel of the right to livelihood, health, food, clean drinking water, sewerage, and transport facilities, must be provided to those who will be relocated to Geeta Colony and Dwarka.
The court has also directed that alternative shelter should be provided to the cattle residing in a cow shelter run by the petitioner organization on the land. The division bench noted that the alternative shelter is not limited to a period of three months, as directed by the single judge.
The order was made while dismissing an appeal by a trust that challenged a single judge’s decision to reject its plea against an eviction notice issued by the Public Works Department. The eviction notice required all slum dwellers of Bhairo Marg, near Pragati Maidan, to voluntarily demolish their dwellings or be removed with the help of police. The notice stated that the persons residing there will be sent to a shelter home in Dwarka or Geeta Colony where the maximum period of stay will be three months.
The petitioner organization, Keshaw Sanyasi Gawo Shewasharam, is a registered trust that is running a cow shelter and temple at Bhairon Marg. It claimed that it is involved in looking after old, ailing, and abandoned cows in a gaushala which is situated upon the land regarding which the notice was issued. The division bench noted that the trust has made a passing reference to the fact that the cow shelter and the temple have existed on the premises for 15 years and 30 years, respectively. However, as this is a pure question of fact to be proven by leading evidence, the same cannot be adjudged by this court in its writ jurisdiction.
In February, a single judge had ordered authorities to provide alternative shelter for the cows of the gaushala’ located in the slum area at Bhairo Marg. The judge clarified that the condition of the maximum period of stay of three months shall not be applicable to the cattle, which are to be moved to the alternate bovine shelter.
However, the counsel for DUSIB had argued that the trust’s jhuggi cluster did not belong to the notified clusters under the Delhi Slum Rehabilitation Policy.
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