Delhi : Slums along the side of rail tracks in the capital will not be removed yet

New Delhi : Around 48,000 slums along the railway tracks in the national capital will not be removed yet. The central government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it needed more time to take a final decision in the matter. The court will now hear it after four weeks. The central government assured the bench that action would not be taken to remove the encroachment during this period.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government before a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, said that discussions on the matter were going on. The government needs more time to decide on this. Accepting his plea, the bench deferred the hearing for four weeks. Last September, the government told the Supreme Court that a meeting between the Ministry of Urban Development, the Government of Delhi and the Railways would be attempted to find a solution within four weeks. The apex court is hearing a petition filed by Congress leader and former Union Minister Ajay Maken challenging the August 31 verdict.

In fact, on 31 August, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra ordered the removal of slums on the side of the rail tracks in Delhi. The court said that no political intervention will be allowed to prevent the removal of these encroachments. The court had asked for removal of encroachment in three months. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Maken on the previous hearing, had requested the court to maintain the status quo in the case, but the court refused. The court had said that there is no justification for passing the status quo order when it is being assured by the central government that slums will not be acted upon.