Prioritising housing needs of slum-dwellers is not only a moral imperative but now a legal one | The Indian Express

Prioritising housing needs of slum-dwellers is not only a moral imperative but now a legal one | The Indian Express

Written by Eklavya Vasudev |Updated: March 29, 2019 9:24:42 am

The writer is a lawyer and senior associate-legal, Indian Institute for Human Settlements

Prioritising housing needs of slum-dwellers is not only a moral imperative but now a legal one

Government agencies and courts can no longer give precedence to one kind of public interest (that of middle and upper classes) over another kind of public interest (that of the slum residents).

About a third of Delhi’s population lives in slums. (Photo for representational purposes)

On March 18, the Delhi High Court held that slum dwellers are not secondary citizens but citizens with equal rights. Authorities can evict slum dwellers only when their occupation of the land is illegal. Any unannounced eviction without a resettlement and rehabilitation plan is also not permitted. The judgment by a division bench comprising of Justices S Muralidhar and Vibhu Bakru stated that, when approached by persons complaining of forced eviction, courts would now be required to view them not as “encroachers” but as citizens whose rights to rehabilitation have to be determined in terms of law.