The Organisation received an information from some Jhuggi dwellers of Gur Sagar Colony, village Kaimbwala, U.T. Chandigarh on December 22, 2001
that the Chandigarh Administration at the instance of some politicians have forcibly demolished 300 jhuggis from the village land in Gursagar Colony, village Kaimbwala, Union Territory of Chandigarh leaving a trail of destruction and making more than One thousand poor people shelterless in chilling cold of December. A team was constituted headed by the President, Mr.Amar Singh Chahal accompanied by Mr.Arunjeev Singh Walia, General Secretary, Mr.Tejinder Singh Sudan, Chandigarh District President, Mr.Sukhdip Singh Sandhu, Mr.Arvind Sandhu, Mr.Yogesh Goel, Mr.Mohinder Singh, Mr.Manpreet Singh Chahal, Mr.P.K.S.Gill to investigate into the incident. The team visited the spot in village Kaimbwala, Administrators residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh, village Maloya, Union Territory, Chandigarh and met many affected persons and also senior police and administrative officers involved in the incident.
Facts:
A huge piece of land of village Kaimbwala under the ownership of village Panchayat was unauthorisedly occupied by two politicians namely,Mr.Gurnam Singh Sidhu and Mrs. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former Chief Minister of Punjab for the last many years. The administration had not taken any action against them, inspite of the fact that these two politicians had unauthorisedly rented out the said land to migrant labourers from U.P. and Bihar where they had also constructed permanent structures and living in a colony under the nose of the Chandigarh Administration. During investigation, it also came to the notice of the team that many tenants were also paying monthly rent to the above named two persons against receipts which they were not authorised to accept. Earlier also, a dispute arouse between one of them and the jhuggi dwellers and a criminal case is pending against the said politician in a court at Chandigarh.
Inspite of having full information and knowledge of the illegal practises being carried on by the two politicians on a prime village land in the periphery of Chandigarh, the Chandigarh Administration turned a blind eye to the violations for the reasons best known to it. Suddenly on December 22, 2001 when the Punjab & Haryana High Court was closed for winter holidays, the Chandigarh Administration under the supervision of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (South), Gyaneshwar Bharti razed to ground more than 300 Jhuggis with bulldozers and enforcement staff at the instance of the above named persons because some of the jhuggi dwellers had stopped paying rent to them. The two politicians named above reportedly deposited a sum of Rs.45,000/- with the administration for removing the Jhuggi dwellers. The jhuggi dwellers were not served any notice of demolition by the administration, nor given any time to remove their belongings. More than one thousand persons including ladies, old persons and small children have been rendered homeless with no place of shelter in chilling winter days only to please the politicians. Two small children died due to severe cold the same night.
More than five hundred affected persons including women and children tried to meet the Administrator of Chandigarh to plead for justice on December 22, 2001, but were prevented by the Chandigarh Police from meeting him. On December 23, 2001 a representation was given in representative capacity by the affected persons to the Hon’ble Mr.Justice R.L.Anand, who ordered status quo on the site in dispute till 2, January 2002 and issued notice to Chandigarh Administration in the meantime. Later on the petition was treated as Public Interest Litigation and heard by a division bench of High Court of Punjab & Haryana comprising Mr.Justice G.S.Singhvi and Mrs.Bakhshish Kaur. On the orders of the Court, a team of doctors visited the place of demolition to provide free medical treatment to the ailing persons on January 7, 2002. On the orders of the High Court, the Chandigarh Administration agreed on January 8, 2002 to provide temporary place in village Maloya, Union Territory, Chandigarh, where the affected persons can save themselves from the extreme cold. But the investigation team which inspected this site in village Maloya found four tents with badly damaged roofs where air and rainy water could easily pass through it. The ground of the site was filled with malba of waste material like bricks, cement and sand. Half of the place was stinking with garbage.
It was not fit for even animal existence, what to say of living by human beings. There was no provision of toilets and water taps, but one temporary water tanker was placed by the administration on the site. As per the investigation team, the affected persons refused to take possession of the alternative temporary site and choose to live at the old place where they were rendered homeless. It was because they could try to save themselves from cold and rain in the remains of the demolished jhuggis better than the alternative site.
In the considered view of the investigating team, it is a clear case of gross violation of human rights of the displaced poor people including small children and old men and women. The Chandigarh Administration has committed illegality and blunder by acting at the instance of two politicians and razing three hundred jhuggis to the ground without giving any notice of removal, rendering about thousand people homeless in the chilling winter. The administration should give a better alternative and permanent site for rehabilitation of the affected persons keeping in view the human rights of the displaced poor persons. The organisation also recommends the holding of a high level enquiry by an independent agency like CBI to find out how and under what circumstances the two politicians unauthorisedly occupied the prime government land and thereafter rented out the said place to hundreds of jhuggi dwellers and started collecting rent from them without paying even a penny to the Chandigarh Administration which is the owner of the village land. The financial loss so caused in the illegal action must be recovered from the delinquent officers of the administration and penal action should be taken against the two politicians and the officials responsible for the demolition of the jhuggis without notice at the instance of the two politicians.
ACTION TAKEN BY LHRI
Our organisation provided free legal aid to the victims to file a Public Interest Litigation in the Punjab & Haryana High Court. The High Court ordered the U.T. administration to make interim arrangement for the rehabilitation of the victims which have been complied by the administration. The Petition is pending at the argument stage in the High Court.
Chandigarh.
January 14, 2002