Plea against jhuggi cluster encroachment on Defence Ministry, other public land withdrawn from Delhi HC

A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the intervention of the Delhi High Court over the encroachment of jhuggi cluster upon a vast stretch of vacant land belonging to the Ministry of Defence and other public authorities behind Majlis Park metro station in north-west Delhi was withdrawn by the petitioner on Monday.

A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the intervention of the Delhi High Court over the encroachment of jhuggi cluster upon a vast stretch of vacant land belonging to the Ministry of Defence and other public authorities behind Majlis Park metro station in north-west Delhi was withdrawn by the petitioner on Monday. Petitioner advocate Abhishek Sharma, who claimed that some of the initial residents of the Jhuggi were Pakistani immigrants seeking refuge in India, decided to withdraw his PIL after a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan raised questions on petitioner's locus in the matter.

The PIL had alleged that the recent expansion drive of the cluster includes individuals who are purchasing the Jhuggis from some unidentified individuals and are acting at the behest of the local municipal councillors and member of the Legislative Assembly. It sought directions to hold a thorough investigation, prepare a detailed list of the dwellers at the said Jhuggi cluster, verify the presence of foreign nationals seeking refuge in India and bifurcate such foreign nationals present at the Jhuggi from Indian citizens.

The plea called for checking the veracity of credentials of the people in the Jhuggi cluster and subsequently a check upon the intermingling of such foreign nationals along with the local Indian citizens. Additionally, the plea sought directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register an FIR and undertake an investigation to find the role of the erring bureaucrats/ administrative officials along with police officials in the matter.

It claimed that from mid-2017, several unknown individuals started grabbing the said land and erected Jhuggis like semi pucca structures upon the same over a period of time, their number have increased rapidly and the Jhuggi expansion drive still continues to boom. It said that even in the coronavirus lockdown, the construction activities in the cluster have not ceased and they are continuing to plunder public land, causing massive losses not just to the public exchequer but the degradation of the overall standard of living and habitable conditions of the adjoining localities as well.

The petitioner submitted that he has made several complaints to the respondent authorities including the Union Ministry of Defence, Delhi Government, and the concerned civic body, and added that the Defence Ministry has initiated the process of securing its land. According to the plea, all other land-owning agencies have also been directed/advised to secure their land from encroachment by fencing and other measures. However, on the ground, no action whatsoever has been taken, by any of the authorities to date, the plea said. (ANI)

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