Supreme Court issues notice in plea seeking stay on Khori Basti Demolition
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice in plea seeking stay on the Khori Basti Demolition by Haryana Government.
The bench tagged the plea filed by Priwasee Sangathan Welfare Society challenging the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran Rehabilitation Policy (to the extent it limits the cut off for rehabilitation to 2003), with the similar matters that are pending before the court.
Bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjiv Khanna while issuing notice informed the counsel that the main matter will be taken up on Friday.
It is pertinent to mention that the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar on June 7, 2021 and June 17, 2021 had refused to grant stay in the pleas filed on the same subject matter and had directed the State of Haryana to remove 10000 residential constructions that had come up at Lakkarpur-Khori village in Aravali forest area.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora along with Advocate(s) Mohit Paul and Kamal Gupta appeared for the Sangathan.
The plea also sought stay on demolition of about 70,000 houses at Khori Gaon, Lakkarpur, Surajkund, Faridabad, Haryana, 121009 planned to be demolished by Municipal Corporation of Faridabad any day.
It was argued that the locality is over 50 years old and even their identity cards have the address proof of that area.
Filed through Advocate on Record Mohit Paul the plea stated that there is a government school and a government park in that area which lends lending credibility to the fact that the government has recognised the area to a large extent for them to have built school and park by utilising public funds.
“The government has recognised the said locality. It is clarified that the Petitioner does not seek any title over the forest land. The Petitioner only seeks rehabilitation of about 1.5 lakhs people and that the State Government re-opens the Rehabilitation Scheme so that they are not rendered homeless,” plea states.
The petitioner has relied on right to housing which has been regarded as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India to aver that even the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Urban does not provide any cut-off date for rehabilitation.
Judgements delivered by the Supreme Court such as Olga Tellis v. Municipal Corporation of India, (1985) 3 SCC 545, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation v. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan (1997) 11 SCC 121, Shantistar Builders Vs. N.K. Toitame 1990 (1) SCC 520, Chameli Singh v. State of UP (1996) 2 SCC 549 has been mentioned in the plea to aver that the meaning of life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been enlarged so as to include within its ambit the right to shelter.
“The said rehabilitation Scheme is open. The purpose of state policies is to implement the right to housing and not to limit it to the extent that it is rendered meaningless. If the state of Haryana does not re-open the Rehabilitation Scheme then thousands of residents of Khori Gaon will be rendered homeless and will not be entitled to any benefits under the scheme. It must be kept in mind that the majority of the residents of Khori Gaon colony are employed in the unorganised sector, did not receive formal education, and thus lack the awareness and resources required to maintain proper documentation, especially dating back prior to 2004,” plea further states.
Case Title: Priwasee Sangthan Welfare Society v. State of Haryana and Others