Supreme Court shows warmth for homeless and students

It’s good news for Delhi's homeless who are battling chilly winters on city's roads and children of economically weaker section (EWS) fighting to get a seat in a private school.

While the Supreme Court (SC) restrained Delhi government from demolishing night shelters, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked them to ensure that private schools reveal a list of seats available under EWS quota.

The apex court took suo motu cognisance of reports that night shelters were razed in the city in the midst of winter.

A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma observed: “Do not take any steps to demolish, otherwise we will pass orders.”

An estimated 1,00,000 homeless people live in Delhi and there are around 100 night shelters, permanent or temporary being run by the state government.

But either they are not enough or are ill equipped as a result of which thousands of homeless and their families are left with no option but to battle the biting cold on pavements and area under flyovers.

The temperature has started dipping in the national capital.

As per official records since 2001, Delhi's minimum temperature in December has hovered around 5 degree Celsius. The minimum temperature this year has already reached 6.2 degree Celsius.

“Though it’s not going to be very chilly in next few days but certainly the minimum temperature will dip by another 1 degree Celsius in the next 4-5 days,” director regional meteorological centre SC Bhan told DNA.

Meanwhile, the CIC came to the aid of children belonging to the EWS quota. In its order, information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi directed the Delhi government to ensure that private schools put up an “easily visible” display board (both in Hindi and English) outside their school carrying information about total number of seats under the EWS quota in their school before December 31.

He asked the government to ensure that the information is also displayed on the education department’s website before the end of December.
Private schools built on land granted by the government were under an obligation to provide seats to EWS students.