The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Faridabad Municipal Corporation to frame a provisional scheme for the rehabilitation of residents displaced in the Khori Gaon demolition.
A Special Bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari clarified that the provisional scheme would be independent of the local body’s housing and rehabilitation plan.
“As suggested on earlier occasion, the corporation has in principle agreed to roll-out a provisional scheme independent from scheme in affidavit regarding allotment of premises/houses in lieu of rehabilitation of eligible applicants,” the court noted in this regard. The court did not seem satisfied with the municipal body’s proposal to complete the rehabilitation process by April 2022.
It insisted that displaced cannot wait till next year and provisional measures should be taken to provide them shelter.
The court said eligible applicants should receive provisional allotment letter within a week of their application. The letter should clearly convey that the allotment was only temporary until the final draw of lots and scrutiny of all the applications.
In the previous hearing, the court had made it clear that its primary focus was on the rehabilitation of eligible people who had lost their homes to the demolition.
The Faridabad local body had earlier vehemently rejected accusations that the displaced were not provided proper temporary shelters, food, water and other basic amenities.
A field report prepared by a researcher, Manju Menon, and advocate Srishti Agnihotri, which was submitted in court, had alleged that the people displaced by the Khori Gaon demolition were living in tin sheds with mud floor with hardly any privacy.
The report had submitted that the facilities in the temporary shelter provided at the Radha Swami Satsang community centre were “woefully inadequate”.
.png?w=600)
