The Court agreed to hear the matter today following an order passed by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
About 1,800 families living in a transit camp at Mankhurd, Mumbai approached the Supreme Court against their eviction by the Maharashtra government following a report by a three-member Committee at the state-level that declared their stay illegal. The Court agreed to hear the matter today following an order passed by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
The families facing eviction are slum dwellers who were moved to the camp two decades ago from different parts of Mumbai. They were promised rehabilitation but remained at the place since then. Such was the pitiable conditions existing at the transit camp that a PIL was filed in 2017 directing both the state government and NGO Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centre (SPARC), responsible for rehabilitation, to expedite shifting of the families from the transit camp to proper houses promised to them.
On this petition, the Bombay High Court constituted a three-member Committee on June 27, 2018 comprising a senior official of MMRDA, Additional Commissioner (Corporation) and Additional Collector (Suburban) to physically inspect the camp and verify how many occupants are eligible for rehabilitation.
The Committee in its report presented to Court on August 31, 2018 submitted that there are 1393 tenements in the camp. This contradicted the petitioner's claim of 1800 families staying in the camp. Of these, they claimed only 222 were eligible for rehabilitation while the rest were liable for eviction. In September 2018, the HC gave its stamp of approval on the report and directed the Committee to proceed with the eviction.
This created panic in the camp with some families approaching the Bombay HC seeking independent verification of the Committee's findings. But the HC disposed the petition on December 19, 2018 following which the families decided to knock the doors of the Supreme Court. Beginning March 20, 2019, residents in the camp received notices directing them to vacate by March 27.
Represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, the petitioners have demanded the apex court to appoint an independent officer (other than from the government) to verify the report of the Committee. Till date, the dwellers facing eviction do not know the ground for their eviction and claim they have not been heard on this issue.
INDEPENDENT OFFICER
Represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, the petitioners have demanded the apex court to appoint an independent officer (other than from the government) to verify the report of the Committee
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