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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | HC slams MCD for razing slums in Games run-up by Utkarsh Anand

HC slams MCD for razing slums in Games run-up by Utkarsh Anand

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published Published on Jan 28, 2010   modified Modified on Jan 28, 2010

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday trained its guns on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for demolishing hundreds of hutments in Kirti Nagar area last November while carrying out its drive to widen roads and beautify the Capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games starting on October 3 this year.

“What do you (MCD) want to do? We think you want to show the foreigners coming for the Commonwealth Games that there are no poor people in India,” a Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw remarked.

Dissatisfied with the MCD counsel’s contention, the Bench observed: “You cannot just take bulldozers anywhere and demolish anyone’s house in the name of the Commonwealth Games. You will have to explain your actions.”

The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by one Ram Gopal, who alleged that 348 slum houses in Kirti Nagar were demolished by the civic agency on November 25, 2009 without serving them proper notices, or giving them alternative allotment. The petition, which annexed affidavits by 151 others whose hutments too were razed, also said they had been residents of the area since 1990 and held election cards.

The petition sought the court’s intervention in their rehabilitation and in granting them monetary and legal benefits.

The MCD had tried to defend its move by contending that the demolition was carried out in accordance with an area sanction plan. It also said the exercise was expedited since the Commonwealth Games were inching closer.

But the court was not satisfied as to how the civic agency could make hundreds of people homeless before the area plan was sanctioned and worked upon.

On the last date of hearing, Chief Justice Shah had pulled up the MCD counsel for saying the matter was an instance of ‘no evidence’ as the residents were violators of the bylaws. “How can you ever say it is a matter of no evidence when they are claiming to possess election cards? This is sheer high-handedness,” the court had observed.

“The demolition was unfortunate,” it held. “Why can’t you follow your own policy?”

On Wednesday, the court decided to issue a short order for speeding up the actions of the MCD. The Bench said: “You expeditiously examine the evidence and decide the rights of the petitioners. You must decide who are entitled to relocation and give them their due.”


The Indian Express, 28 January, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-slams-mcd-for-razing-slums-in-games-runup/572302/
 

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