TMI Blog1995 (12) TMI 421X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fication under Section 4(1) and the exercise of the power given under Section 17(1) read with Section 17(4) dispensing the inquiry under Section 5-A. Three contentions were raised and negatived by the Division Bench. The first contention was that since the lands are not waste or arable lands, notification under Section 17(4) is invalid. Secondly, it was contended that dispensing with the inquiry under Section 5-A is not justifiable as there is no urgency to take possession even though the land was acquired for providing houses to Scheduled Castes (for short, 'Dalits'). Thirdly, it was contended that on account of the acquisition, the appellants will be deprived of their lands which is the only source of their livelihood violating Article 21 of the Constitution. Thus this appeal by special leave. Shri R.K. Jain, their learned senior counsel reiterated with added vehemence highlighting that there was pre and post-notification delay of more than three years. The proposal was put up in 1979 and the notification was approved in February but published in April 30, 1983 which would show that the urgency is not such which does not brook the delay of 30 days in conducting inquiry un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s or colourable exercise of power. Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the right to standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services. Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 laid down that State Parties to the Covenant recognise the right to everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and for his family including food, clothing, housing and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.' The State parties will take appropriate steps to ensure realisation of this right. In Sri. P.G. Gupta v. State of Gujarat and Ors. 1995 (1) SCALE 653, a Bench of three Judges of this Court considering the mandate of human right to shelter read it into Article 19(1)(e) and Article 21 of the Constitution of India to guarantee right to residence and settlement. Protection of life guaranteed by Article 21 encompasses within its ambit the right to shelter to enjoy the meaningful right to life. The Preamble to the Indian Constitution assures to every citizen social and eco ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e but a reasonable home, particularly for people in India can even be mud-built thatched house or a mud-built fire-proof accommodation. When the urban land under Sections 20 and 21 of the Urban Land Ceiling Act was exempted subject to the condition of constructing houses to weaker Sections by the builders, this Court recognised the above right to shelter as an in-built right to life under Section 21 and upheld the validity of exemption and gave directions to effectively implement the scheme. In Olga Tellis and Ors. v. Bombay Municipal Corpn. and Ors. AIR 1986 SC 180 considering the right to dwell on pavements or in slums by the indigent was accepted, as a part of right to life enshrined under Article 21 and ejectment of them from the place nearer to their work would be deprivation of their right to livelihood. They will be deprived of their livelihood if they are evicted from their slum and pavement dwellings. Their eviction tantamounts to deprivation of their life. The Constitution Bench had held that if the right to livelihood is not treated as a traditional right to life, the easiest way of depriving a person of his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of livelihoo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ghts known to any civilised society. All civil, political, social and cultural rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Convention or under the Constitution of India cannot be exercised without these basic human rights. Shelter for a human being, therefore, is not a mere protection of his life and limb. It is home where he has opportunities to grow physically, mentally, intellectually and spiritually. Right to shelter, therefore, includes adequate living space, safe and decent structure, clean and decent surroundings, sufficient light, pure air and water, electricity, sanitation and other civic amenities like roads etc. so as to have easy access to his daily avocation. The right to shelter, therefore, does not mean a mere right to a roof over one's head but right to all the infrastructure necessary to enable them to live and develop as a human being. Right to shelter when used as an essential requisite to the right to live, should be deemed to have been guaranteed as a fundamental right. As is enjoined in the Directive Principles, the State should be deemed to be under an obligation to secure it for its citizens, of course subject to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... diverse provisions of the Constitution, while meeting the challenging situation in the society. The Directive Principles are beacon light leading to reach the ultimate goal of economic equality and social justice to all. It accordingly had upheld the power of the State Government invoking urgency clause under Section 17(4) of the Act when the State discharged its constitutional mandate to provide shelter to the poor. 10. The need to provide right to shelter is not peculiar to India but is a global problem being faced by all the developing and developed nations. In 1980 the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution No. 35/76 expressed the view that an international year devoted to the problems of homeless people in urban and rural areas of the developing countries could be an appropriate occasion to focus attention of the international community on those problems. In Resolution No. 37/221 of 1987 as the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless was adopted and request was made to member States to sustain the momentum generated during the programme for the year and to continue implementing concrete and innovative activities aimed at improving the shelter and neighb ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ettlement policy and environmental policy. 4. The strategy need to outline the action through which the objectives can be met. In an enabling strategy actions such as the provision of infrastructure may mean the direct involvement of the public sector in shelter construction. The objective of facilitating adequate shelter for all also implies that direct government support should mainly be allocated to the most needy population groups. x x x 6. Another important component is the development of administrative, institutional and legislative tasks that are the direct responsibility of the Government, for example, land registration and Regulation of construction. x x x 8. The appropriate institutional framework for the implementation of a strategy must be identified, which may require much institutional reorganisation. Each agency involved must have a clear understanding of its role within the overall organisation framework and of the tasks expected of it. Mechanisms for the co-ordination of inter and intra-agency activities need to be developed. Mechanism such as shelter coalitions are recommended and may be developed in partnership with the private and non- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ss poor was envisaged in the Sixth Plan 1980-85 which continued in the Seventh Plan. Finances are provided for construction of the houses under the Planned Expenditure. 13. Indira Awas Yojana is evolved to provide housing accommodation on war footing exclusively for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Their appalling housing condition is judicially taken notice by this Court upholding the pragmatic approach of Chinnappa Reddy, J. in Kasiredi Papaiah v. Government of A. P. AIR 1975 AP 269 as well in the following words: That the housing conditions of Harijans all over the country continue to be miserable even today is a fact of which courts are bound to take judicial notice. History has made it urgent that, among other problems, the problem of housing Harijans should be solved expeditiously. The greater the delay the more urgent becomes the problem. Therefore, one can never venture to say that the invocation of emergency provisions of the Land Acquisition Act for providing house sites for Harijans is bad merely because the officials entrusted with the task of taking further action in the matter are negligent or tardy in the discharge of their duties, unless, of cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ccommodation is national urgency of which Court should take judicial notice. The pre-notification and post-notification delay caused by the concerned officer does not create a cause to hold that there is no urgency.. Housing conditions of Dalits all over the country continue to be miserable even till day is a fact of which courts are bound to take judicial notice. The ratio of Deepak Pahwa's case (supra) was followed. In that case a three-Judge Bench of this Court had upheld the notification issued under Section 17(4), even though lapse of time of 8 years had occurred due to inter-Departmental discussions before receiving the notification. That itself was considered to be a ground to invoke urgency clause. It was further held that delay on the part of the lethargic officials to take further action in the matter of acquisition was not sufficient to nullify the urgency which existed at the time of the issuance of the notification and to hold that there was never any urgency. In Jaga Ram and Ors. v. State of Haryana and Ors. [1971] 3 SCR 871 this Court upheld the exercise of the power of urgency under Section 17(4) and had held that the lethargy on the part of the officers at an e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the need to dispense with an inquiry under Section 50A which has to be considered. 16. It would thus be seen that this Court emphasised the holding of an inquiry on the facts peculiar to that case. Very often the officials, due to apathy in implementation of the policy and programmes of the Government, themselves adopt dilatory tactics to create cause for the owner of the land to challenge the validity or legality of the exercise of the power to defeat the urgency existing on the date of taking decision under Section 17(4) to dispense with Section 5-A inquiry. 17. It is true that there was pre- notification and post-notification delay on the part of the officers to finalise and publish the notification. But those facts were present before the Government when it invoked urgency clause and dispensed with inquiry under Section 5-A. As held by this Court, the delay by itself accelerates the urgency: Larger the delay, greater be the urgency. So long as the unhygienic conditions and deplorable housing needs of Dalits, Tribes and the poor are not solved or fulfilled, the urgency continues to subsist When the Government on the basis of the material, constitutional and inter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
