The Supreme Court has stayed Karnataka High Court's suo motu directions to the state government to reconstruct hutments of migrant labourers, some of which were burnt down during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, at Bengaluru north's Kacharakaranahalli village.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy on February 4 suspended the operations of the December 4 orders, including one related to the reconstruction of structures at the same place, on a special leave petition filed by the state government. The court also issued notice to private persons whose temporary structures were removed.
The state government led by advocate Shubhranshu Padhi, maintained that the land in question undisputedly belonged to the government and notifications were already issued for clearance of the slums and rehabilitation of the residents at an alternate parcel of four acres of land.
It contended that the HC had wrongly held that the state violated the right to residence guaranteed to slums dwellers under Article 21 of the Constitution, as the slum stood on government tank bed unsuitable for inhabitation.
"The right under Article 21 cannot be stretched so far as to include the right to claim rehabilitation and shelter in a specific parcel of land owned by the government," it said.
With regard to the burning down of some of the hutments, the state government said an FIR and charge sheet had already been filed against the accused miscreants.
It also pointed out the state government had already paid compensation of Rs 14,100 to each of the affected families whose huts were destroyed.
However, "the direction to rehabilitate the residents of the slums on the government land would set a dangerous precedent as it virtually amounts to regularising an admitted encroachment," it said.
If the state government was to implement the HC's order for reconstruction, it would incur Rs 68 lakh which is a significant amount for temporary structures, it said.