Decide On Rehabilitation Of Piranana Chhapra Slum Dwellers In 6 Weeks: Gujarat High Court To Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

The Gujarat High Court has recently asked the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to decide in six weeks the applications of certain hutment dwellers residing in Piranana Chhapra, Behrampura seeking rehabilitation, by passing reasoned orders and after giving them a personal hearing.

The order was passed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition moved by one Shaikh Noorjahan Bano, seeking protection for 57 slum dwellers who had received eviction notices in October 2023. The plea sought a direction for rehabilitation of hutment dwellers in accordance with the Regulation for the Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of the Slums, 2010.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi in its order said, “The present petition is being disposed of with the observation that the application of each of the hutment dwellers, as indicated in the affidavit dated 24.04.2024, shall be examined by the competent authority of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and separate reasoned orders shall be passed with regard to the application of each of the hutment dwellers, noted hereinabove, after providing them due opportunity of personal hearing, as expeditiously as possible preferrably within the period of six weeks from the date of the receipt of the copy of this order.”

“Till such a decision is taken by the competent authority, none of the aforesaid persons / hutment dwellers shall be evicted from the site in question, if not already evicted,” the court added.

The PIL petition contended that the eviction of these hutment dwellers was being conducted without granting them the benefits outlined in the 2010 regulations.

The order notes that of the 57 hutment dwellers, nine could not be traced. Out of the remaining, the order notes, notices with respect to all, were issued on October 7, 2023 for their eviction from Piranana Chhapra. The counsel appearing for the AMC submitted that for getting the benefit of the 2010 Regulations, each of the hutment dwellers, who is "allegedly facing eviction", is required to move an appropriate application, upon which an inquiry can be conducted by the Corporation.

The court thereafter said, that barring the nine persons, the remaining hutment dwellers may individually file a proper application with the Corporation, along with the copy of the high court's October 8 order, within two weeks.

Noting that the dispute raised in the PIL petition would require a factual at the level of the Competent Authority of the AMC, the court said that it does not find any reason to keep it pending and disposed it of.

Case Title: SHAIKH NOORJAHAN BANO v/s STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.

Click Here To Read Judgement