A DELHI VILLAGE SANS BASIC AMENITIES – PIL HEARING ON 11-11-2009

NOTE:

All 100-odd girls child in a Delhi Village have never gone to school because there is no school in the vicinity. Almost negligible number of boys is going to school which is at 6 to 8 Km away from the village. All other basic amenities such as electricity, drinking water, dispensaries etc. also are not available in the village. The residents are deprived of all their human and fundamental rights. The Social Jurist through Ashok Agarwal Advocate has filed a PIL in Delhi High Court highlighting the plight of the residents and particularly of the children of the village. The PIL is listed for hearing before a Division Bench presided over by the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court for 11-11-2009. A copy of  PIL is pasted below.

Ashok Agarwal Advocate

Mobile. 9811101923

04-11-2009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

W.P. (C) NO. 12882 OF 2009

(PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION)

IN THE MATTER OF

Public Interest Litigation

AND

IN THE MATTER OF

   Writ petition under Article 226 of

            the Constitution of India

AND

IN THE MATTER OF

Failure on the part of the Government of NCT of Delhi and Municipal Corporation of Delhi to provide basis amenities such as school, electricity, primary health Centres to the residents of Village Badarpur Khadar, Yamuna Pushta road, North-East Delhi

AND

IN THE MATTER OF

Violation of fundamental rights of

600 –odd residents of the village as guaranteed to them under Articles 21 and 21-A of the Constitution of India

AND

IN THE MATTER OF

Social Jurist, A Civil Rights Group

Through its Coordinator

Advocate M.N.Singh

478-479, Lawyers Chambers,

Western Wing, Tis Hazari Courts,

Delhi-110054                                                                                                   …Petitioner

VERSUS

1.         Government of NCT of Delhi

through its Chief Secretary.

Secretariat, I.P.Estate,

New Delhi-110002

2.         Municipal Corporation of Delhi

Through its Commissioner,

Town Hall, Chandni Chowk,

Delhi-110006

                                                                                                      …Respondents

To

THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF HIGH COURT OF

DELHI AT NEW DELHI AND ITS COMPANION JUSTICES OF

THE SAID HIGH COURT

The humble petition of the petitioner above named

RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH

1.   The petitioner by present public interest litigation has highlighted the facts that Village Badarpur Khadar, main Yamuna Pushta Road, North-East Delhi with 150 brick and mud houses is a village in the capital region with no civic amenities such as electricity, roads, drinking water supply, school, dispensary where 600-odd residents have been residing in miserable conditions. It is submitted that there are about 200 school age children. It is submitted that the entire school age girl child population which is around 100 has never gone to school. Almost negligible number of boys is going to school which is at 6 to 8 Km away from the village. It is submitted that the respondent authorities are obliged to provide basic amenities to the residents of the said village. It is submitted that the impugned failure on the part of the respondents-authorities is in violation the fundamental rights of the  residents of the said village as guaranteed to them under Articles 21 and 21-A of the Constitution of India.

2. The petitioner, Social Jurist, A Civil Rights Group is an organization of the lawyers and the social activists dedicated to the cause of common man. The present petition has been filed in the public interest.

3. The petitioner submits that the Times of India, New Delhi dated 29.10.2009 published a news report by Ambika Pandit highlighting the plight of the inhabitants of the said village. The said news report is reproduced as under:

“Village falls off DELHI MAP

Badarpur khaddar is the only village in the capital without electricity and other civic amenities such as schools and primary health centres

Ambika Pandit

This is a spot of contradiction on Delhi’s ever expanding map. Even as the Capital undergoes the glitzy makeover to match world’s best cities in terms of infrastructure and amenities, one pocket of Delhi still lives in darkness, quite literally. The 600-old residents of Badarpur Khaddar, off the main Yamuna Pushta road in north-east Delhi, are still to see the brighter side of life.

Badarpur khaddar with 150 brick and mud houses is the only village in the capital region with no civic amenities such as electricity, roads, drinking water supply, school, dispensary and panchayat, notes a recent report of deputy commissioner (northeast) T.C.Nakh. Only a 45 minute drive from the heart of the capital, the village is accessible by a muddy and bumpy road.

A predominantly muslim village, it does not even offer viable opportunities for earning a decent livelihood. The men and women here survive on working in the fields of Yamuna riverbed, making just about Rs. 50/- a day.

As the Times City visited this village, cutting through a rising cloud of dust in the village, a group of children could be seen whiling away their time on the out skirts, for the nearest school is 7 kilometer away in Sabhapur village. “Teenagers can cycle to the school but what about kids?” Fumes a villager, adding that the community wants to educate its children but has been left with no option. Some students walk it down to Meerpur, which is also about as far as Sabhapur. Then there are other who go to Loni in UP, a 10 Km haul. What this means is that most of the students in this village, forgotten by the State, are boys because “girls can’t travel so far for education”.

Earlier there was a glimmer of hope when a land was sanctioned for opening a school but nothing moved after that. Pointing towards a large plot of land, surrounded by a boundary wall, Shahdeen, a resident, said that the villagers themselves had got together to erect the boundary wall.

The deputy commissioner (north-east) had written to the DC of MCD, Shahadara north zone in August 2008 regarding opening of  a primary school in the village for which gram sabha land was available. But the school is yet to show up.

The only sign of development, recalls 60-years-old Mohammed Vakil, is the road that has come up in one part of the village. But he is quick to add: “it was only a political gimmick”. The tractors owned by some of the farm owners among the community are the only link with technology for residents here. But they serve more than their purpose of cultivation. Shahdeen told Times City that villagers, who own television sets and CD players, use the battery of tractors to charge their TVs. So, these ‘powerless’ villagers can be found huddled near a tractor, for their daily dose of entertainment.

The total lack of healthcare and sanitation is also a major worry in the village, espically when there’s dengue out-break. Roshni (55) points out that they never get water supply and that they drink water from hand-pumps, which often lead to infection and fever, especially among children. For the past few months, a mobile dispensary van has been coming to this village twice every week. However, the van too sometimes misses the trips because its owner is reluctant to take the van on damaged roads leading to the village. Mohsin, another resident, cited his wife’s case who delivered their children on road sometime back on way to a nursing home in the next village.

When contacted, DC(northeast) Nakh said: “This area has come in the jurisdiction of the district from 2008 after the delimitation of constituencies. I have carried out inspections and a plan of action has been drawn up. A copy of that has been sent out to various departments”

Meanwhile, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month, northeast Delhi MP J P Agarwal has raised the case of badarpur khaddar. “it is shameful that in a large metropolitan city like Delhi, there is a village like Badarpur Khaddar where electrification has not been carried out, and as a result, the people of this poor village live a primitive life. It is very shameful that advertisements worth crores have been released to newspapers, but no steps has been taken to provide electricity to Badarpur Khadar” he wrote to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Agarwal claims that he has brought the matter to the notice of the Union Ministry of power through two letters written on August 13 and October10, but no action has been taken so far. “I am shocked at the state of affairs and have apprised the NHRC chairman of the prevailing scenario,” Agarwal asserted.”

A copy of the said news report is enclosed hereto as Annexure ‘A’

4.      The petitioner submits that thereafter a five-member team of Social Jurist consisting of Advocate Ashok Agarwal, Advocate Kusum Sharma, Advocate M.N. Singh, Social Worker Bhushan Jain and Social worker Sahana, visited the said village on 01.11.2009 in order to verify the facts stated in the above news report. The team stayed in the village for more than three hours and interacted with the residents including children of the said village. The team observed that the facts stated in the above news report were true. During the interaction with the children, the team was informed that in the absence of any school in the village, none of the 100 girl child has ever gone to school. The team was also informed that almost negligible numbers of boys were attending school at distance of 6 km. to 10 km. from the village. There was no electricity in the entire village; the road approaching the village was muddy and bad in shape. There was no drinking water facility. Various girl child of school age told the team that if school is made available in the village, all of them would like go to school. The parents of the children were also serious about the education of their children but were helpless in the absence of the any school facility in the vicinity. All the residents of the village were poor.

5.      The petitioner submits that the residents of the said village have fundamental rights to life as guaranteed to them under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is also submitted that the children have also right to education as guaranteed to them under Articles 21 and 21-A of the Constitution of India. It is unfortunate that the authorities inspite of repeated representations by the residents have never given any attention to their most human and basic needs. As per the said news report, the deputy commissioner of Govt. of NCT of Delhi has written to the Deputy Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi regarding opening of a primary school in the village for which Gram Sabha land was available, but nothing was done.

6.      The Petitioner submits that both the respondents-authorities have constitutional and statutory obligation to provide basic amenities to the residents of the said village. It is submitted that the failure on the part of the authorities to do so, tantamount to failure on the part of these authorities to perform their Constitutional and Statutory duties.

7.      The petitioner submits that they have no efficacious alternative remedy except to approach this Hon’ble Court by way of present PIL.

8.      The petitioner has not filed any similar petition either in the Hon’ble Supreme Court or before any Hon’ble High Court in India.

In the premise aforesaid, it is most humbly prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to:-

a)      issue any appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondents to forthwith provide civic amenities such as school, electricity, road, drinking water supply, and dispensary to the residents of village Badarpur Khadar, main Yamuna Phusta road, north-east Delhi;

b)      pass any such other or further Order (s) as this Hon’ble Court may deem just, fair and proper in the interest of justice and in favour of the petitioner; and

c)  allow the present PIL with costs.