SUDAMA SINGH Vs. GOVERNMENT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petitions have been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking intervention of this Court to rehabilitate and relocate the petitioners who were residing at various slum clusters in the Capital city to a suitable place and providing them alternative land with ownership rights pursuant to demolition of their jhuggies (hutments). The subject matter in these four writ petitions revolves around questions of great importance, inter alia, right to shelter of the petitioners and those represented by them on one hand, and, on the other, slum cluster being on Right of Way on which basis the agencies of the State seek to oppose them. Therefore, all of them were taken up together for hearing and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) CERTAIN background facts, germane to these writ petitions may be noted at the outset. The Government in the year 1990, decided to resettle the then inhabitants of jhuggies in Delhi and a comprehensive survey was conducted by the Civil Supplies Department of Delhi Administration between January and March, 1990, wherein all jhuggi clusters except those residing on road, footpath etc., were identified with the cut-off date of January 31, 1990, pursuant to which a proposal was submitted to the Delhi Administration and the Planning Commission for its 1990-91 Annual Plan. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi mooted a three pronged strategy in its proposal to the Delhi Administration and Planning Commission for Annual Plan, 1990-91, to solve the problem of eligible dwellers which, inter alia, provided: Strategy-I: Relocation of these Jhuggi households where land owning agencies are in a position to implement the projects on the encroached land pockets as per requirements in larger public interest and they submit request to S&JJ Department for clearance the jhuggi cluster for project implementation and also contribute due share towards the resettlement cost. Strategy-II: In-situ upgradation of JJ clusters and informal shelters in case of those encroached land pockets where the land owning agencies issue NOCs to Slum & JJ Department for utilization of land. However the utilization of land under this strategy is linked with clearance of the project by the Technical Committee of the DDA. Strategy-III: Extension of minimum basic Civic amenities for community use under the Scheme of Environmental Improvement in JJ clusters and its component schemes of construction of Pay and Use Janasuvidha complexes containing toilets and baths and also the introduction of mobile toilet vans in the clusters, irrespective of the status of the encroached land till coverage under one of the aforesaid two strategies.

(3.) THE latest Master Plan for Delhi-2021 (hereinafter referred to as the MPD-2021) as notified on 07.02.2007, has already been enforced. It gives statutory relief to the Slum & JJ Clusters. The MPD-2021 envisages three fold strategies to deal with rehabilitation or relocation of the existing squatter settlements/jhuggi dwellers. One of the strategies is relocation of the jhuggies dwellers if the land on which their jhuggies exist is required for a public purpose, in which case, the jhuggi dwellers should be relocated/resettled and provided alternative accommodation. It also provides that Resettlement whether in form of in situ-upgradation or relocation, should be based mainly on built-up accommodation of around 25 sq. meters with common areas and facilities. Paras 4.2.3 and 4.2.3.1 of MPD-2021 under the heading Housing for Urban Poor read as under: