- (1.) The present writ petition, styled as a public interest litigation, has been filed by an unregistered organization claiming to be involved in assisting the marginalized sections of society. The grievance is made on behalf of the residents of Dhanas whose katcha houses were alleged to have been built on private lands owned by villagers which were demolished with the assistance of the police force on a winter cold day of 27.12.2012 by the enforcement staff of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. This action is stated to have been followed up by another such clearing exercise of alleged vacant public land on 16.1.2013 preceeded by demolition of 100 homes in Indira Colony, Manimajra, U.T., Chandigarh. In this behalf, newspaper reports and photographs have been annexed to the petition. The Government is stated to have been threatening to demolish all unauthorized colonies and, thus, the petition was filed claiming that if proper survey had been conducted and notices served human suffering would have been avoided. The action is stated to have been taken without making any arrangement for rehabilitation or temporary accommodation.
(2.) The directions which are sought for from this Court are to the following effect: (i) No demolition of such houses should be carried out on private lands unless requested by owners and that too after following proper legal procedure; (ii) No demolition of such homes should be carried out unless land is immediately required for larger public purpose; (iii) Sufficient notice should be given to vacate the land of their own volition to the occupants; (iv) No such action should be carried out in the extreme weather conditions; (v) Alternative shelters/arrangements be made to take care of immediate dispossession; and (vi) Arrangement of NGO to be made who are given public funds for purposes of distribution of tarpaulin/quilts, etc. for purposes of shelter and protection from extreme cold.
(3.) The Chandigarh Administration has resisted the petition by filing an affidavit through the Land Acquisition Officer. The affidavit states that a humanitarian approach has always been adopted for the economically weaker sections of the society by allotting dwelling units for their rehabilitation and till the date of filing of the affidavit in May, 2013, 32666 suitable dwelling units stood allotted in different sectors, the details of which have been set out. An intensive programme of housing and rehabilitation of economically weaker sections of society living in slum conditions is stated to have been undertaken by resettling them in low cost tenements and sites under the Chandigarh Licencing of Tenements and Transit Sites in Chandigarh Scheme, 1975 followed by the Licencing of Tenements and Sites and Services in Chandigarh Scheme, 1979. Further steps were being taken under The Chandigarh Small Flats Scheme, 2006 for which the eligibility conditions have been set out as under:- "Eligibility and Mode of Allotment 6(a) With respect to every block of a Notified Colony selected for clearance, allotment of a flat shall be made as under:- (i) All persons whose names appear in the biometric survey and voter list as on 1.1.2006 shall be eligible for allotment of a flat on license basis. The name of the person should also be appear in the latest voter list of the year in which allotment is to be made. (ii) A person who owns more than one habitation in any of the Notified Colonies in his own name or in the name of any dependent member of his family shall be entitled to the allotment of only one flat under this Scheme. (iii) A family unit shall be entitled to one flat, provided it fulfils all the conditions under the Scheme. (b) All allotments of flats under this scheme will be on monthly license fee basis consisting of One Room Flat in a multi-story building. 7. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Scheme, no person shall be eligible for allotment of a flat unless he fulfils the following conditions:- (a) The applicant must himself be residing in the colony. Mere ownership, unless accompanied by actual physical habitation of a building or structure or covered site shall not be sufficient to make a person eligible for allotment under this scheme. (b) The person does not own or have ever been allotted whether on free-hold or lease-hold basis, a residential site in the Union Territory, Chandigarh, Panchkula or Mohali by the respective Government/Administration or its Agency either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family dependent on him.";