The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre, the Delhi government, and others on a plea seeking guidelines to be followed by authorities before the removal or relocation of any shelter for the homeless.
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A bench headed by Justice S K Kaul was dealing with a petition which claimed that several shelters for the homeless made by an agency of the government are being sought to be demolished by another arm of the government.
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The bench, also comprising justices A Amanullah and Aravind Kumar, issued notices including to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) seeking their response to the plea and posted it for hearing on April 5.
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The petition, filed by Delhi resident Sunil Kumar Aledia, said the DDA has started the restoration and rejuvenation of the Yamuna flood plains, and 14-night shelters situated in the area are on the verge of demolition.
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It said on February 15, one of the night shelters situated near the Sarai Kale Khan bus terminal here was demolished by authorities.
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The plea, filed through advocate Kabir Dixit, claimed these demolitions are going to be carried out without any study and purportedly are also in wake of the G20 summit among other reasons.
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"All these night shelters cater to a major population of homeless persons who do petty manual jobs in the nearby area and thus, abrupt removal of these night shelters would have a detrimental effect on the life, liberty, and dignity of the homeless persons concerned," it said.
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The plea said there are various schemes for the benefit of the homeless persons and DAY-NULM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission) specifies that there should be shelters for the urban homeless.?
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It said presently in the national capital, the number of permanent night shelters is not adequate and to cope with the need, the DUSIB has established night shelters in the shape of porta cabins and these are operational 24X7 for the homeless persons.
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"Petitioner is seeking stay on the demolition of the night shelters situated on the River Yamuna flood plains," the plea said.
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Demolition of night shelters in the name of restoration and rejuvenation "is in total violation of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights under Articles 19 (protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech etc) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty)," it claimed
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It has also sought direction from authorities concerned to place on record the studies, if any, done on the cause and effect of the proposed demolition and what arrangements have been made by them to provide shelter to those who are going to be rendered homeless by the proposed action.?
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The plea said the state has to provide adequate shelters to the homeless and the priority should be their welfare and upholding of the fundamental rights enshrined under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution.
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It said the apex court needs to form appropriate guidelines for the state agencies which they ought to follow before removal of any homeless shelter, how studies and surveys shall be done, and how the rehabilitation ought to be done.?
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It said the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights had also emphasised the need for adequate housing for homeless persons.