The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday restrained Chandigarh administration from evicting the slum dwellers residing in the remaining 5 slums/labour colonies in the city. The colonies to get court protection include Colony No. 4, Sanjay Colony; Adarsh Colony; Indira Colony; and Sector 25 Janta Colony.
Observing that the city beautiful shall not remain “beautiful” in case the services of these slum dwellers are no longer available, the Vacation Bench of Justice M. Jeyapaul and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu, issued notices to Chandigarh Administration, Home Secretary and Deputy Commissioner for July 25.
The issue of protection for the slum dwellers was raised in a Public Interest litigation (PIl) filed filed by Parvasi Bhalai Sangthan, represented by Avinash Singh, its National President
The petitioner sought directions for Chandigarh Administration not to evict the slum dwellers ( Jhuggi dwellers) residing in these 5 colonies before rehabilitating them in alternative accommodation. The petitioner has also sought direction for administration, to pay adequate amount of compensation to the oustees of Maloya colony and lal Bahadur Shashtri Colony, demolished by administration on April 24 and April 29 this year.
The petitioner contended that both the colonies were demolished even without issuing prior notices to the residents. The residents ousted from these colonies had been forced to live in open places, due to sudden act of the administration. Seeking alternative arrangement for the oustees, the petitioners have asserted that there were 1500 dwellers in the other five colonies. They are living under constant threat of getting evicted from their houses by the administration.
Senior Counsel, M.l. Saggar, along with Advocate H.C. Arora submitted before the Vacation Bench that the residents of these labour Colonies deserve to be protected as they are residing there for the last several years.