Temporary relief to slum dwellers from eviction

The Supreme Court's order on  the eviction of slum dwellers along the  railway tracks in three months  galvanizes  a  debatable issue among social,judicial and political  activists. The order by the SC bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, B.R. Gavai and Krishna Murari came just two days before Justice Mishra's retirement ' Encroachment alongside tracks  is a very old issue and the Indian Railways was fighting cases in many courts to get the track sides evicted .Finally the Apex Court gave some relief to the railway. But just after a week, the SC gave four weeks relief to slum dwellers from eviction.
The  debate started on the  wastes disposal  vs encroachments by slum dwellers.The activists expressed concern for the right to housing and dignity as part of the right to life for those helpless slum dwellers. They  opine that a poor record in rehabilitation and  imposing a stringent deadline appears not only unjust but also invites a humanitarian disaster, with the COVID-19 unrelenting on its impact on the urban poor and the marginalised.
According to some  law experts, SC's order in connection with the piling up of waste by the sides of railway tracks in Delhi appears overlooking the established precedents and the SC's rich jurisprudence. The bench headed by Justice Mishra chose the issue about  the predominant presence of large number of slum dwellers along the 140 km  rail track in the NCR region as recorded by the Delhi Division of Northern Railway in its affidavit.
The experts said that question of removal of encroachments has little to do with the main issue of  removal of waste along the railway tracks in this case. But the bench went ahead by making more observations, and issuing unforeseen directions. The court after directing the Railways to execute a plan with respect to removal of plastic bags, garbage etc. within three months, also issued directions to all the stakeholders  to prepare and execute a comprehensive plan for removal of jhuggies in a phased manner.  
The court in its order said that "the encroachments, which are there in the safety zones, should be removed within a period of three months and no interference, political or otherwise, should be there and no court shall grant any stay with respect to removal of the encroachments in the area in question". The court also said ---“In case any interim order is granted with respect to encroachments, which have been made along with railway tracks, that shall not be effective.”  And thus in one stroke, Justice Arun Mishra's bench  made it impossible for political and legal interventions to offer relief to the affected jhuggie dwellers.  
The bench concluded that piling of wastes along the sides of railway tracks was due to unauthorised human habitation. In view of this observation by the court, the experts infer the possible link between these two issues from a certain Report No.111 submitted by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) for the NCR and the reply filed by the Railways. The EPCA in its report did not substantiate the link which the court sought to suggest between garbage lying on both  sides of the tracks and the people living in the slums.  As per EPCA report, it is also not known how much land is being claimed by the Railways as having been allegedly encroached upon by slum dwellers. The activists observe that in  the absence of such basic information, the SC’s order of eviction appears far-fetched and disproportionate. And more worse, the bench makes no reference to the rehabilitation of those residents who are likely to be ousted from their jhuggis at short notice. 
Here the experts see fault line in EPCA's report and the Railways reply affidavit to the Supreme Court. The nutshell of Report No.111 is that the  EPCA, had requested the SC to direct the Railways  a time-bound plan for the inventory of all solid waste generated in the Northern Region, starting with Delhi and its vicinity. This inventory, it said, must first include the waste generated in trains and in the stations. 
Second, it  asked that the Railways be directed to prepare a stock list of its all lands along the tracks and other land pieces, encroached as waste dumps and its plans to handle this on a long-term basis.  Third, the EPCA said the Railways should be asked to plan for management of solid waste as a bulk generator, to ensure compliance with the SWM Rules 2016. The EPCA recommended that these plans must be comprehensive. So that all solid waste generated is segregated at source; bio-degradable waste is composted and the rest is given to authorised waste recyclers or pickers. The plan must be time-bound and with clear monitoring provisions.
In the light of EPCA's above observation, the experts opine that had   the EPCA been concerned about the waste allegedly generated by human habitation on the sides of the tracks, and the “unauthorised jhuggi settlements,” which the Court has referred to in its order, it would have certainly recommended eviction of such slum dwellers. And the  Railways’ reply affidavit to the SC, therefore, appears  an evasion of its responsibility and making the jhuggi dwellers the scapegoats for its omissions and commissions as a bulk waste generator. But the Arun Mishra bench has not  been diligent enough to sift through Railways’ response to examine what real remedial action is required to address the problem of waste management.
The result is that such a summary decision of  the court  has unleashed tragedy on the hapless jhuggi dwellers, and affecting their livelihood  as well.
Meanwhile in  a relief to those slum dwellers residing along the 140 km railway tracks in Delhi, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on 14th September that they would not be removed till a final decision is taken by the government. The Centre said to a three member bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde  that a final decision would be taken in consultation with the Railways, Delhi Government and the Urban Development Ministry.The bench recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance and said that no coercive action will  be taken against these slum dwellers for four weeks.
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