Chandigarh: Friday, 26 August 2016. In a peculiar
case of Petitioner Vikram resident of Gurgaon having constructed house on his
ancestral land situated in the vicinity of Air Force Station, Gurgaon, the
double bench headed by J. Rajesh Bindal of the Chandigarh High Court, after
hearing Mr. Pardeep Rapria the Counsel for the Petitioner, has issued notice to
the Ministry of Defence and Haryana Govt. on a petition seeking quashing of the
Works of Defence Act, 1903 which tends to uproot crore and crore people
residing in the vicinity of the Air Force Ammunition Depots situated all over
India. It may be recalled that earlier in the month
of March, 2016 the High Court had directed the deputy commissioners (DCs) of
Gurgaon and Faridabad to issue notices against those who have made
constructions within 300 metre around the Indian air force ammunition depot
Gurgaon and 100 metre around the air forces station in Faridabad. The DCs had
been asked to issue notices asking the encroachers to remove constructions to
avoid any action from the administration. After reading the media
reports about the demolition of his house, the Petitioner knocked the doors of
the High Court through his Advocate Pardeep Rapria, while contending that ‘the petition emanates from the constant
fear of losing his living abode and only source of livelihood based on his
ancestral land since immemorial time, at the whims and fancies of the multiple
authorities functioning under different statutes, poor un-coordinated
governance by myriad parallel authorities thus providing fertile ground for
malfeasance and resultantly poor quality services to the citizens. The
sword/threat of demolition of the home situated on the ancestral land is in
violation of human rights and various International Covenants like Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, International Convention of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights and Resolution No.1993/77 adopted by Commission of Human Rights
titled “Forced Evictions and Human Rights’.
Mr.
Rapria the Petitioner’s counsel argued before the High Court that the Govt. rehabilitate
the slum dwellers having constructed their houses on the public land, but the
people like petitioner who had constructed their houses on their ancestral land
can not be uprooted at the altar of Works of Defence Act the old draconian law
of the year 1903, without ensuring respectable rehabilitation of people. Mr.
Rapria further contended that ‘Due to significant changes in the ground
realities and enactment of subsequent statutes, after passage more than 100
years of passing of the Works of Defence Act, 1903, the antique law has lost
its relevance and now the present ground reality is that without ruining the
lives more than 25 lakhs citizens’ residing in the vicinity of the Air
Force Depot, Gurgaon.
While
making Maruti Suzuki India Limited and Pasco Automobiles as Respondents along
with the Ministry of Defence, the Petitioner pleaded before the Court that the
buildings of these companies are also situated within the restricted zone of
the Air Force Depot, nobody is touching them, while the Govt. is bent-upon to demolish
the houses of people having constructed their ancestral land. Ammunition Depot
is surrounded by State Govt.’s buildings, schools, houses approved by HUDA and
huge commercial hubs in Gurgaon.
After
hearing the plea of the Counsel for Petitioner HC while issuing notices to the
Ministry of Defence, Haryana Govt., Municipal Corporation etc. fixed 19.09.2016
for arguments on granting stay for not demolishing the houses.
No comments:
Post a Comment