• Source:JND
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The Delhi High Court has made strong observation while allowing DDA to continue with the process of demolition at Bhoomiheen Camp in South Delhi's Kalkaji in accordance with law. The Delhi HC said that encroachers cannot claim a right to continue occupying public land till their rehabilitation claims are not resolved, as this would unduly impede public projects.

While hearing writ petitions filled by around 1,200 peope, Justice Dharmesh Sharma said that the pleas were not only flawed due to the misjoinder of multiple parties with multiple causes of action, but they also failed to meet the essential threshold, which is provided by the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy for being considered eligible for relocation and rehabilitation.

In an order passed on June 6, the court said, "None of the petitioners have any legal right to continue occupying the JJ cluster incessantly, to the detriment of the public at large."

The batch of petitions sought directions for the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to suspend any further demolition activity, maintain the status quo at the site, and refrain from physically evicting the petitioners from their respective 'jhuggi jhopri' clusters.

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The petitioners also sought a proper and comprehensive survey conducted by the DSUIB and to rehabilitate them in accordance with the 2015 policy.

The high court said there can be no gainsaying that the petitioners have no vested right to seek rehabilitation, as it is not an absolute constitutional entitlement available to encroachers such as themselves.

The court said, "The right to rehabilitation arises solely from the prevailing policy that binds them. The determination of eligibility for rehabilitation is a separate process from the removal of encroachers from public land."

"Encroachers cannot claim a right to continue occupying public land pending the resolution of their rehabilitation claims under the applicable policy, as this would unduly impede public projects," it said.

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However, the high court allowed rehabilitation of a few petitioners and directed the DDA to allocate the EWS category flats to them.

The nearly three-decades-old slum cluster at Bhoomiheen Camp was home to migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal, among others.

(With PTI Inputs)