In a major relief to the Gandhi Harijan Sewak Samaj - Dr. BR Ambedkar Adarsh Vidyalaya facing eviction, Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has set aside the notice issued by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board(DUSIB). Saxena issued the orders in his capacity of an appellate court, Raj Niwas said on Thursday.
The DUSIB had directed the Samaj and the School to vacate the land allotted to it and served an eviction notice on disputed charges of allowing encroachment. Saxena also set aside the sealing of the school by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD)following the orders of DUSIB.
DUSIB in an order dated 17.05.2024 had asked for vacation of the property held by the Gandhi HarijanSewakSamaj since 1964 - Dr. BR AmbedkarAdarshVidyalaya, at Dakshinpuri in South Delhi, running since 1993,within 30 days.
The School has 650 students predominantly belonging to the Dalit community and other weaker sections and 27 staff, who had been suffering ever since the sealing of the school.
The DUSIB had issued a notice to the Samaj / School on the basis of a complaint by the area MLA, Ajay Dutt and the final decision to seal the school and confiscation of its land was issued within days of the said MLA attending a meeting with DUSIB officials in this regard.
The Samaj / School have been facing harassment since as far back as the year 2002, but the final order to close it came only recently. Thereafter, the Samaj and the School had appealed in the court of Lt. Governor of Delhi u/s 45 of the DUSIB Act, 2010.
The LG in his order observed “that the matter had been dealt with by the Government (DUSIB) in an extremely callous and politically pre-meditated manner, detrimental to the appellant, who apart from belonging to the most marginalized Dalit community is also involved in carrying out the task of educating poor and Dalit children.
The eviction process will certainly have an adverse impact on the school leading to potential disrepute, loss of trust and future of 650 students and 27 staff members”, the LG said.
There seems to have been some deeply entrenched vested interests against running of this school for quite some time, he said in the order.
