Bulldozer will run on 10 thousand houses in Faridabad

⏺️ Supreme Court refuses to stay the order

The Supreme Court has refused to modify its earlier order to demolish around 10,000 houses in the forest area of Khori village in Faridabad within six weeks. A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari gave this order while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The petition had sought a stay on the demolition action.

The bench said that in our opinion there is no reason for the court to interfere at this stage. Advocate Aparna Bhatt, appearing for the people living in forest areas, told the bench that demolition action should not be taken in this era of COVID-19 epidemic. Most of the migrant laborers live there and in this period of crisis they will be homeless. At the same time, he also alleged that the corporation is not accepting the documents of the people living here for the rehabilitation plan. In response, the bench said that we cannot stop the demolition proceedings. People had ample opportunity to clear the forest land. All this is going on for the last six years.

On the allegation of non-acceptance of documents for the same rehabilitation plan, the bench has asked the corporation to work on it as per the rules. Advocate Bhatt said that at least one temporary shelter should be provided for those who are to be evicted during the pandemic as they have a large number of children and women. In response, the court clarified that it is the job of the state of Haryana to look into this issue. During the hearing, the Haryana government said that the encroachers pelt stones at the officials who took the demolition action. To this the court said that no order is required for this and the authorities know what to do. On June 7, the Supreme Court had ordered the Faridabad Corporation to demolish about 10,000 constructions in the forest area within six weeks. The Supreme Court had clearly said that in any case the forest area should be vacant and no compromise can be made in this.