New Delhi: The UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, has filed an intervention application with the Supreme Court on the bulldozer action matter.
The rapporteur has told the court that he could assist it from the perspective of international human rights law, LiveLaw reported.
On September 17, the court had said that no house should be demolished without the Supreme Court’s permission unless there is an encroachment on public property. The court had indicated that it would come out with guidelines on the matter.
Rajagopal’s plea says that the destruction of houses through bulldozers without permission is a violation of international rights and denies people the right to adequate shelter. Rajagopal said that he has a right to intervene in the matter because India is a signatory to the UN charter on human rights.
He stressed the fact that this action on the part of the governments, without following the due process of law, is illegal.
“Arbitrary demolitions carried out for purportedly punitive reasons are aggravated forms of human rights violations, especially when they target or result in discriminatory impacts against minorities, and when demolitions result in homelessness, they may constitute a violation of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment,” the application says.
“Such standards include non-selective, non-discriminatory application of laws, adequate notice and right to appeal, avoidance of forced evictions and homelessness, and adequate and fair compensation,” the application says.
Regarding international human rights, the application states, “[The] arbitrary demolitions that lead to forced evictions are gross violations of international human rights law as set out by resolutions 1993/77 and 2004/28 of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and General Comment No.7 of the CESCR.
“Such forced evictions also violate other human rights standards such as Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which says that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.”India has signed both ICCPR and ICESCR.
He also said the government is bound to give compensation for demolition. Giving the examples of Delhi, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, he said that no family, whose house got demolished, was compensated, except in a few rare cases. He added that such ‘illegal demolitions’ should be categorised as serious crimes.
The nearing on the matter will take place on October 1.
