New Delhi, Jan 15: Restraining authorities from evicting Kashmiri migrants from government land in a market here, the Delhi High Court today said they deserved to be treated compassionately as they have become refugees in their own country. Restraining the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from taking any harsh action against the migrants, a bench comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi to immediate convene a meeting of concerned authorities to discuss their problems. When lakhs of illegal migrants from Bangladesh were allowed to encroach upon the government land to set up their "jhuggis" in the capital, the Kashmiri migrants, who belong to well-to-do families, could not even do so considering their social status, the court observed. MCD counsel Anil Grover submitted that the corporation had not tried to evict the migrants numbering over 50 from a piece of land on which they were given "tehbazari" rights, but had only sought to restrain them from encroaching upon other plots of land.
He said the corporation was not contemplating any action for evicting them from the plots on which they were given the right to carry out their trade.
Bureau Report