The Delhi High Court has said that authorities in the capital are acting in “wilful disobedience” of its orders by failing to issue provisional housing allotment letters to Tamil-speaking migrant families displaced by the demolition of the Madrasi Camp in Jangpura, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.

In an order on September 26, the court said that further non-compliance would compel it to take action against the concerned officials.

The decades-old Madrasi Camp, built overlooking the Barapullah drain near Nizamuddin Railway Station, housed 370 tenements and was predominantly inhabited by families originally from Tamil Nadu.

It was demolished on June 1 by the Delhi Development Authority.

This came after the court directed authorities on May 9 to clear the area along the Barapullah drain. Describing the camp as an “unauthorised encroachment”, it had earlier said that the tenements were obstructing drainage and causing severe waterlogging in the surrounding areas during the monsoons.

The court had also directed that eligible residents be rehabilitated and relocated under provisions of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board Act and the Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy.

Of the 370 families, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board had determined that only 215 were eligible for housing. These families were allotted residential units in Narela, a northern suburb over 35 km from Jangpura.

The remaining 155 families had failed to meet documentation or eligibility criteria.

These families had later filed appeals with the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board for reconsideration.

An appellate authority of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board found some of the previously ineligible residents eligible. However, the chief executive officer of the board overturned these decisions, The Indian Express reported.

The families then moved the court against the officer’s order.

On May 29, Justice Sachin Datta had stayed the chief executive officer’s decision, noting that the overturning of the appellate authority’s “well-reasoned” orders was prima facie without jurisdiction.

The court had also directed the Delhi Development Authority to ensure that provisional demand-cum-allotment letters were issued to the petitioners, in line with other eligible residents of Madrasi Camp, the newspaper reported.

On September 26, the Delhi Development Authority had told the court that it had not received the requisite funds from the Public Works Department for the relocation, The Indian Express reported.

The petitioners, however, submitted that the Public Works Department had already deposited Rs 27 crore with the Delhi Development Authority for the relocation of 318 jhuggis.

Datta observed that even if there was any dispute between the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and the Public Works Department regarding the sufficiency of the funds, it did not justify non-compliance with the court’s directions.

He directed that a meeting be held within two weeks between the housing director of the Delhi Development Authority, senior officials of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and the Public Works Department chief engineer “to resolve the matter and to make sure that the orders passed by this court are complied with”, the newspaper reported.

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