The Supreme Court on Monday directed the DDA to halt
for a week its ongoing drive to demolish over 800 alleged illegal dwelling
units built on its land at Vishwas Nagar area of east Delhi to enable residents
to relocate.
A vacation bench comprising justices Aniruddha Bose
and Sanjay Karol, however, did not find fault with the orders passed by the
single and the division benches of the Delhi High Court permitting the Delhi
Development Authority (DDA) to go ahead with removal of the encroachments.
While issuing notice to the DDA, represented by
lawyer Sunieta Ojha, the bench said it will consider in the second week of July
the issue whether the residents, who are sought to be removed from their
dwelling units, are entitled for rehabilitation by the land owning agency
either under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board Act or any other law.
We are apprised that demolition work has started at
8 AM today. So far as the right of the members of the petitioner to reside at
their present dwelling place is concerned, we do not interfere with the Delhi
High Court order.
On humanitarian considerations, we give them seven
days to vacate respective premises by May 29, 2023 and then it would be open to
the DDA, with the help of such agency, to resume their demolition activities,
the bench said in its order.
The bench directed the counsel for the DDA to inform
the authorities during the day to immediately stall the demolition drive.
The order was passed on a petition filed by some
residents of the Kasturba Nagar area falling under Vishwas Nagar locality of
east Delhi.
They assail the demolition notices issued by the DDA
on May 18.
The Delhi High Court, on March 14, this year, had
refused to stall the demolition move of the DDA while agreeing with the plea of
the land owning agency that the residents were encroachers.