NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday halted the demolition of illegal houses in Kasturba Nagar and Vishwas Nagar for seven days on humanitarian considerations. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol, however, said that the failure of the residents to vacate would not restrain the the Delhi Development Authority to resume the activity with the aid from other agencies.
“On humanitarian consideration, we give them seven days’ time to vacate their respective dwelling units. In the event they fail to vacate their respective premises by May 29, 2023, it would be open to the DDA, with the help of such agency they normally seek assistance from, to resume their demolition activities,” the bench said.
It added, “We reiterate our directions that for a period of seven days, no further demolition activity shall be continued. But so far as the demolition which has already taken place, the same shall remain effective.” The court’s order came in a plea which was filed Kasturba Nagar Residents Welfare Association against Delhi HC’s March 14 judgement directing the DDA to remove dwellers.
The plea was mentioned by counsel for the RWA before the vacation bench. Urging the court to put a halt on the demolition, the counsel said, “Houses and slums in Delhi are being demolished. Let the matter be examined. The order is of 14/3/2023. The demolition notice is on the 18th.”
Supporting the demolition, counsel for DDA Sunita Ojha on the other hand argued that their case of removing these residents from their dwelling units was sustained by Single and Division bench primarily on the ground that they were “illegal encroachers”.
