A group of eleven slum dwellers living near railway tracks in various parts of Delhi moved an application to join the proceedings pending before the Apex Court in the MC Mehta case. On Aug 31, the Court, had directed the Railways to remove nearly 48,000 slums situated close to the safety zone of the Railways within 3 months. All Courts were restrained from ordering a stay on their eviction.

The slum dwellers, in their application, said, “The impleaders (slum dwellers) work in the markets & industrial areas near their residence. It will be very difficult for them to earn their livelihood if they are removed from the said area in these difficult & unprecedented times of the pandemic.”

The applicants are residents of Jhuggi Jhopdi (JJ) clusters of Sarai Rohilla, 2 camps of Kirti Nagar, & another cluster near Defence Colony.

This application follows a separate petition filed by senior Congress leader Ajay Maken in the Apex Court demanding alternate housing for the slum dwellers, nearly 2.4 lakh persons, under the Delhi Slum & Jhuggi Jhopdi (JJ) Rehabilitation & Relocation Policy, 2015 before they are removed. He sought urgent intervention by the SC as the Railways has proposed to start the demolition drive between Sept 11 & 14.

The news agency was the first to report on the Apex Court order on Sept 3.

Advocate Lubna Naaz, who filed the application on behalf of the slum dwellers, said, “At present, 11 slum dwellers have applied, but any order by the Court will affect residents of 48,000 slums. In the current circumstances, these people need compassion & a little help from the Court for their suitable rehabilitation.”

The slum dwellers, in their application, have annexed two documents that could be relevant to deciding the future course of action. The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) began a survey of the JJ clusters situated close to the railway tracks on land belonging to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) & the Central government. This survey was meant to identify slum dwellers for in situ rehabilitation & redevelopment. Of 196 JJ clusters, the survey covered 158 clusters. The survey was stopped midway after DDA instructed DUSIB on October 23, 2019, to stop the survey in view of the Delhi Assembly elections that were held in February 2020.

Another document annexed to the application is a communication by the Director, Railway Board, on January 7, 2016, which records a decision regarding the removal of jhuggis on Railways land. The document records a decision that no demolition is to be carried out without joint notice by representatives of DUSIB & Railways & without a rehabilitation plan for eligible slum dwellers.

During the Top Court proceedings, which resulted in the eviction order, at no stage did the Court call upon the slum dwellers to be heard. In a Feb 28, 2020 order, the Court observed, “By the sides of the railway lines in outer Delhi region, heaps of plastic bags & garbage are lying on both sides & people living in the slums. The situation is pathetic.”

Accordingly, it recommended that an expert body on environmental issues, EPCA (Environment Pollution Prevention & Control Authority), Delhi Govt & various municipal corporations should chalk out a concrete plan for the removal of the plastic bags, garbage & other waste along the tracks. EPCA, in its July 9, 2020 order, asked the Court to direct the Indian Railways to prepare a time-bound plan under the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 for all the waste generated.

Prior to the Aug 31 order, Railways submitted an affidavit in Court stating that in dealing with garbage, solid waste & plastic waste, a major hindrance was the “predominant presence of jhuggis along 140-kilometre route length of track in the region of National Capital Territory of Delhi.” Such encroachments, the Railways said, “are not only adding to the present menace of accumulation of garbage, municipal solid waste, human waste along the Railway line but are a safety threat to the day-to-day operation of the Railways.”

This became one of the factors for the Court to order the immediate eviction of close to 48,000 slums situated adjacent to Delhi’s railway tracks.

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