Supreme Court Seeks Details Of Shelter Homes For Urban Poor From States/UTs Amid Winter Season

While hearing the PIL seeking adequate shelters for homeless persons, the Supreme Court recently called for an affidavit from the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board which shall detail inter-alia the number of persons who can be accommodated in existing shelters and how the Board proposes to address deficits.A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan heard the matter. While hearing the PIL seeking adequate shelters for homeless persons, the Supreme Court recently called for an affidavit from the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board which shall detail inter-alia the number of persons who can be accommodated in existing shelters and how the Board proposes to address deficits. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan heard the matter and ordered that the affidavit be filed through a Senior Officer giving following details: Facilities available with DUSIB for accommodating persons without shelter; Number of persons who can be accommodated in such facilities; The estimated number of persons requiring such facilities; If there is any deficit in the facilities available, then the number of persons requiring such facilities and how DUSIB proposes to deal with such a situation. It was also contended that authorities were restrained from demolishing shelters without permission of the Court, yet 5 more shelters were closed citing dilapidated condition - which further displaced 250 homeless persons.