Woman, dogs left homeless: Delhi high court asks admin to consider rehabilitating her

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[google-translator]

The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the municipal corporation to maintain status quo on the demolition action at a shanty in south Delhi’s Saket, where 80-year-old Pratima Devi has been running a shelter for around 250 community and abandoned dogs for around three decades.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri also permitted Devi to put a tarpaulin as an interim measure after she and the dogs were left without shelter in the bitter cold due to the demolition.

Devi, popularly known as ‘Amma’, works as a waste-picker to make ends meet, but has stated that she earns only to look after the hundreds of dogs whom she feeds and cares for. According to her the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) demolished her shanty, located near the PVR movie hall in the Anupam market complex, in two phases — on Monday, the civic body took causal action, while on Tuesday, the actual demolition took place.

The judge, while issuing notice to the MCD and the Delhi government, directed them to explore the possibility of Devi’s rehabilitation and posted the matter for hearing on March 15.

“Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case and the contention of the petitioner that the impugned action has been taken by respondent no 1 (MCD) without any prior notice, this court deems it expedient to direct that the respondent shall maintain status quo till the next date of hearing and to overcome the immediate need for the shelter, the petitioner shall also be permitted to put a tarpaulin as an interim measure,” the court ordered.

Devi had moved court on January 4, challenging the civic body’s demolishing of her shanty without any prior notice. The matter was urgently mentioned before a bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Subramonium Prasad on Wednesday, which allowed its hearing on the same day.

In her plea, Devi, through counsel Vaibhav Gaggar and Shivani Sethi, has said that on January 3, MCD bulldozed her temporary makeshift shelter without giving any prior notice, leaving her and the community dogs she looks after injured, missing or stuck under the debris, thus creating chaos and mayhem in and around the locality.

During the hearing, the counsel for MCD opposed the petition and said that the petitioner should look for an alternative location.

However, Devi’s counsel told the court that there isn’t any available alternative shelter which has been provided by the civic body to house these community dogs. They further apprised the court that behavioural changes in the dogs could lead to instability all around. “Currently, the Petitioner along with the stray dogs are without a roof on their heads, stranded in the debris of the demolished makeshift shelter which goes into the root of the matter. This is completely contrary to the settled principles of law and at the same time it also violates the fundamental right of the petitioner…,” the plea said.


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