Parting shot: Order for life of dignity to slum dwellers

In an attempt to provide relief to slum dwellers whose huts are frequently bulldozed, the outgoing chief justice of Delhi high court held that the authorities' denial of alternative dwellings violated the rights of the poor.

In his last judgment, justice AP Shah and the other judge in his bench, justice S Murlidhar, directed the government to guarantee alternative accommodation before rendering slum dwellers homeless.

"It can't be expected that human beings in a slum cluster will simply vanish if their homes are uprooted and their names effaced from government records," said the bench, adding, "They are the citizens who help rest of the city live a decent life. They deserve protection and the respect of the rights to life and dignity which the Constitution guarantees them."

Allowing the writ petitions filed by scores of slum dwellers, the court issued a slew of directives. HC directed the Delhi government to relocate all eligible slum dwellers within four months.

The 2001 census put the slum population in India's cities and towns with a population of 50,000 and above as 42.6 million. It was 22.6% of the urban population. This could also roughly be the size of Spain or Columbia. Nearly 11.2 million of the total slum population of the country lives in Maharashtra followed by Andhra (5.2 million) and UP (4.4 million).