HC stays eviction of five blind students from govt hostel

The Delhi High Court has come to the rescue of five visually impaired students who were asked to vacate a government-run hostel in the capital where they were staying.

The Delhi High Court has come to the rescue of five visually impaired students who were asked to vacate a government-run hostel in the capital where they were staying.

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The court directed the NCT government to allow these students to stay in the hostel in Connaught Place till November this year and consider their representation for an alternative accommodation after they leave it.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan said "we are inclined to directed that the appellants (students) shall not be evicted till end of November...".

The Bench's direction came while disposing of an appeal filed by blind student Lalit Kumar and four others challenging a single judge's order dismissing their plea for extension of their stay in the hostel.

Appearing for the visually challenged students, advocate Kamal Kant Jha argued that the eviction order passed by the hostel management was "arbitrary and illegal".

Seeking an alternative accommodation for these students, the lawyer said the hostel was constructed by Delhi government to accommodate students up to class-VIII and these students being poor continued to stay there for few more years.

Challenging the eviction order, these students approached the High Court, which initially allowed them to stay in the same place but in the final judgement on May 7 dismissed their petition.