PRIYANKA SHUKLA Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, BILASPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed pro bono publico by a lawyer of this Court seeking for the following reliefs :

(2.) Infact, the writ petition was filed on 10.06.2020. On pointing out extreme urgency, it was ordered to be listed on the same day in the 'after lunch session' and was taken up accordingly. The learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner projected the sad plight of the persons whose cause is brought out in the above writ petition, pointing out that the said persons, who are occupants of buildings constructed for the economically weaker sections and low income groups by the State Housing Board, were forcibly being evicted and that the buildings were being demolished, virtually throwing them and the children to the streets; that too during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The learned counsel pointed out that the occupants were having no place of abode of their own and were occupying the said buildings on the basis of some oral permission and that they were residing there for quite long. It was all of a sudden, that the Respondents sought to oust them from the buildings using force and to demolish the buildings, without any rhyme or reason; despite the fact that applications preferred by the occupants for regularization / rehabilitation are still pending.

(3.) On receipt of advance copy of the proceedings, Mr. Alok Bakshi, the learned Additional Advocate General pointed out that the houses were constructed by the Local Authority which was intended to be allotted to the eligible persons under a particular Scheme and that the present occupants were encroachers. Mr. Prafull N. Bharat, the learned counsel appearing for the Local Authority pointed out that the present occupants were encroached and broke opened the locks and occupied the buildings which were lying vacant and intended to be allotted to eligible persons under the particular Scheme. It was also brought to the notice of this Court on 10.06.2020 that, the unauthorized occupants living on the river bank of 'Arpa' and the slum dwellers were to be rehabilitated under the specific Scheme known as "Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme" (for short, 'IHSDP'). The demolition effected was the unauthorized structures on the said Arpa river bank and the slum area after getting vacant surrender, on rehabilitation. The photographs produced by the Petitioner are in respect of the said instances, which do not have any connection to the cause in relation to the buildings pointed out by the Petitioner in the present writ petition. The occupants of the buildings herein were not law-abiding citizens and after encroachment into the buildings, they had also looped electricity using hooks from the electricity lines passing through the nearby road / passages. The learned counsel had submitted on that day that all the persons whose cause is sought to be projected had been evicted and the buildings had already been taken to custody. It was further pointed out that, most of the persons so evicted had already returned to their original dwelling places, but since there remained about 35 families, they have been taken care of and accommodated in the Community hall of the Local Authority.