Delhi: Ajay Maken moves SC, seeks stay on its order

NEW DELHI: Congress member Ajay Maken on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking its direction to stay removal of 48,000 jhuggis along the railway tracks in the capital as ordered by the apex court on August 31.
The apex court had directed clearing of encroachments along the railway tracks within three months and ordered that no court should stay the process. Alleging that the apex court passed the order without hearing the affected parties, Maken pleaded the court that removal of jhuggis should not be done till all the people living there are rehabilitated and sought direction to the Delhi government to frame a rehabilitation plan for them.
"The authorities have already initiated the process f identification and removal of jhuggis and have 'issued demolition notices' in various slums in Delhi. Further, while doing so they have circumvented the procedures established by law with respect to rehabilitation of the slum dwellers prior to eviction/ demolition of their jhuggis and ignoring the procedure enshrined in the Delhi Slum & JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy," Maken said in his petition. He said large-scale demolition of slums is likely to affect lakhs of people and render them homeless amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. "The homeless persons will be forced to travel from place to place in search of shelter and livelihood during the current Covid-19 crisis," he said.