Indore: Maintain status quo in Ramabai Nagar slum eviction, orders HC

A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court had directed the Indore administration to maintain a status quo on evacuation of around 300 families from Ramabai Nagar.

A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court had directed the Indore administration to maintain a status quo on evacuation of around 300 families from Ramabai Nagar.

Residents of Ramabai Nagar damaged a bulldozer during eviction drive. (File photo)

In its order, on Friday, the high court bench also asked the district collector and superintendent of police to file a reply on the issue before December 7.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was moved before the Indore bench of high court by Anand Lakhan demanding a stay on the district administration’s evacuation proceedings seeking interim relief for the slum dwellers.

According to the petitioner’s counsel, advocate Shanno Khan, the slum dwellers from the vicinities of Krishnapura Bridge were moved to Ramabai Nagar by the then district collector in 1995 without knowing that the land belongs to government employees’ co-operative housing society.

“A civil dispute case was going on in the lower court since last 20 years, but the slum dwellers were not even informed about the matter.

Suddenly after the court ruled in favor of the co-operative housing society recently, the officials of district administration and police reached the area with bulldozers to pull down the structures,” she said.

Khan urged the division bench, comprising justices SR Waghmare and Sujoy Paul, to provide interim relief to slum dwellers, citing that the district administration may again attempt to evacuate the slum on November 23.

Around 250 to 300 families are living in the 1.5 acre land in scheme no 140 in around 175 units. The land is now priced at Rs 1.5 crore.

Based on district court’s order (passed earlier), a district administration team along with policemen had reached Ramabai Nagar on November 1 to evict the slum dwellers. But they were forced to retreat as angry residents pelted stones at the officials.