Some relief for 112 Khyber Pass residents, Delhi HC gives them till Sep 30 to vacate

However, residents were relieved after they woke up to the news that the Delhi High Court granted them time till September 30 to vacate.

Amongst those being evicted was national pistol shooting coach Samaresh Jung, who returned Thursday from the Paris Olympics where he guided shooters Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh to victory. He said, “We were never opposed to vacating, we were only opposed to the hasty manner in which we were being asked to leave… it was getting really difficult to pack all our belongings in a day so we were thinking of leaving some behind… it’s good we can respectfully vacate now.”

Shamli Yadav (42), a resident, said, “We packed all our belongings but we didn’t have a place to go; it’s a relief we now have more time to look for a place.”
“We have been living here for the last 53 years, two generations of my family have stayed here… it is difficult to leave… but we are happy with the High Court’s decision,” said another resident, Ravinder Juneja (32).

Earlier this year, 10 petitioners approached the HC challenging a March 1 notice issued by the Land and Development Office (L&DO), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, directing occupants of 32 acres of Khyber Pass to vacate “all unauthorised occupation and remove illegal construction from the land immediately” by March 4.

While an interim stay was granted by the court of Justice Subramonium Prasad, in a verdict dated July 9, he refused to quash the L&DO notice.

The petitioners claimed they were lawful occupants; their fathers or grandfathers were allotted the residences about 70 years ago, when it was in the occupation of the Ministry of Defence, and were provided as residential accommodation to officers of the Armed Forces.

The petitioner – Sanjay Kumar and others – had then moved the HC division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, appealing against the single judge’s verdict. The division bench, in a verdict dated July 29, upheld the single judge’s decision; it said the L&DO’s action cannot be held to be illegal or unconstitutional.

Subsequently, another group of 22 petitioners – Laxman and others — moved the HC on July 29, challenging the eviction notice. However, during court proceedings on July 31, in light of the division bench’s verdict in the earlier batch of petitions, the petitioners said they would like to “unconditionally withdraw” their plea while requesting that the petitioners be afforded “reasonable time” of two months to vacate their premises, “on humanitarian grounds”, citing that they need time to make alternate arrangements as well as in light of the ongoing monsoon season.

The 22 petitioners, espousing the cause of 112 residents of Khyber Pass hostel, were granted relief by the court of Justice Sanjeev Narula; the court directed that the 112 residents shall give an undertaking on affidavit that they shall vacate their premises by September 30, and that they are unconditionally withdrawing their challenge to the proposed eviction/demolition.

According to sources, the previous batch of petitioners moved the HC Friday, seeking that they too be granted a similar relief of a reasonable time. The court, while refusing to grant any immediate relief or stay on the eviction notice, has kept their matter for consideration on August 5.