Right To Housing

The right to adequate housing has been widely recognized and accepted as a part of the right to life by the international community as well as in India. Despite having ensconced the right to housing as a part of the larger right to human dignity, right to equality, social and economic rights, the basic provisions, which form the spirit of right to housing are blatantly violated all across the country. The objective of the initiative is to monitor and stop illegal or forced evictions, and network with other organizations to evolve a joint action campaign ensuring the right to Housing.

What SLIC Does?

The SLIC Housing Rights Initiative works on behalf of those who lack secure and adequate housing. This involves providing community legal literacy campaigns to help empower slum and JJ Cluster residents with the knowledge of their rights and how to best defend them, providing legal aid when these residents are threatened with or suffer illegal evictions or demolitions, ensuring that rehabilitation and relocation programs are done in accordance with the law, and ensuring that existing policies and programs are improved so that they are in compliance with judgements from the Supreme Court and with International Law. It partners with other organizations that work on behalf of related communities to strengthen the movement and expand its reach. And it examines the interconnections between the Right to Housing and other fundamental constituent rights, such as the Rights to Food, Water, Health, Education and Livelihood, to inform a holistic rights-based approach to housing.

The team reviews legal and administrative provisions for the urban poor. It studies provisions of the master plan for housing of urban poor and suggests pro-poor changes. It also provides for large scale dissemination of data , developing strategies of intervention and building greater public support for the campaign.

The initiative is involved in campaigning and advocacy with policy makers, bureaucrats and progressive town planners to implement pro-poor policies and adequate housing and land supply. It monitors forced evictions and creates extensive documentation which stir public outcry in national as well as international circles. After conducting inquiry into large-scale forced eviction in seven states, the first report of NFHR (National Forum for Housing Rights) was published in collaboration with SLIC in 2003.

Main Concerns

Illegal forced evictions and demolitions.
Inadequate accommodations within relocation colonies.
Violations to the Right to Education, Healthcare, Food, Water and Livelihood that result from
        evictions and demolitions.
City, state/territory and central government policies which do not protect the Right to Housing.
Inadequate provisions for EWS and LIG housing in city and state planning and budgets.

SLIC Impact

SLIC has filed a number of cases related to housing rights. In most of these cases, when SLIC is able to get to court before the bulldozers, the communities received protections from illegal evictions in the form of protective status quo stay orders. These generally continue for the duration of the case and the government agencies are directed to perform proper surveys and/or provide the necessary rehabilitation. In a typical case, there are hundreds of families involved, resulting in relief for thousands of individuals. Occasionally, landmark decisions such as that in Mukundi Lal (a.k.a. Sudama Singh) result advance the field and become the foundation for future cases, and likely affects the behaviour of government agencies towards communities.

SLIC also works with a variety of partner organizations to make them more effective advocates for the rights of slum dwellers. It has provided legal literacy trainings to slum resident organizations, assisted organizations with field-staff with tools for documenting and surveying communities at risk, and provided legal tools and assistance to other lawyers working on these issues.

JHARGRAM DISTRICT MEETING

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Jhargram District Meeting

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Jalpaiguri District Meeting

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State Level Meeting on Violation of Human Rights in West Bengal During Covid 19

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Madras High Court Issued Notice regarding Rehabilitation of the Evicted Slum Dwellers at Arumbakkam, Chennai.

P. Karpagam & Ors Vs. The Commissioner , Greater Chennai Corporation & Ors WP No. 18621 of 2021
pending

Residents challenge the illegal digging of land

Sazia Parween & others Vs. State of Jharkhand & others
Pending

Civil Amenities to slum dwellers of Nimpur, Cuttack

W.P.(C) No. 6511 of 2021-Ruja Bibi and others Vrs State of Odisha and others
Pending

Three quality meals a day at shelter homes

Bandhua Mukti Morcha Vs Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board & Ors
Pending

Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Adivasis of Nuapada District

W.P.(C) No. 6891 of 2020-Bhagatram Majhi Vrs State of Odisha and others
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58 houses facing demolition at Panth Nagar South India Camp, T-Huts Pant Nagar, Dehi-110014

Pant Nagar South Indian Camp Worker’s Union v. Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board & Ors, WP(C) No. 5999 of 2020
Pending

Mexico Supreme Court of Justice rules in favor of including informal settlements in official census after SLIC files an Amicus

Un Techo para mi País México vs. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), amparo en Revisión 635/2019
Decided

Bombay HC stays demolition of pavement dwellers in Parel, Mumbai

WP. No. 576 of 2020 Dhanpat Muneshwar Tambat V. Assistant municipal Commissioner's Office
Pending

Tribals Facing Eviction

Roopsingh Vs State of M.P., W.P. No. 6651/2020
Pending

800 houses facing demolition at Dhobi Ghat, Batla House, Jamia Nagar, Okhla, Delhi-25

Shakil Ahmed v. Delhi Development Authority & Ors, WP(C) No. 7032 of 2020
Disposed off

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Challenging Demolition of houses of Tribals in Jabua District

Khemchand and Others Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, W.P. No. 6669/2020
Pending

House Demolition in Madhya Pradesh

Thavariya Vs State of Madhya Pradesh, W.P. No. 7213/2020
Pending

Kishan Ganj Railway Line Colony

Kishan Ganj Railway Line Workers Union v. Northern Railway & Ors, WP(C) 2744/2020
Pending

Implementation of Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Tribal Village in Jharsuguda District.

Amot Oram and others Vrs State of Odisha and other-W.P.(C) No. 4997 of 2020
Pending

Kathputli Colony razed and forced the residents to leave Kathputli Colony

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Disposed off

District level meeting on Housing Rights for Transgender Persons

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Strategies to Combat Forced Evictions: Kolkata Workshop Report

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Bulldozing Rights: Report on the Forced Evictions and Housing Policies for the Poor in Mumbai-Report of the Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights

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The cruel side of Delhi’s Beautification : illegal demolition in Baljeet Nagar

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Delhi HC rebukes DDA counsel, appoints court commissioners to oversee Kathputli colony demolition, rehabilitaton

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Ancestral tribal land marked sanctuary area without consultation with tribals who live and work there

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Fact finding on Public Health Centres in Shillong, Meghlaya

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Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) demolished the houses of 15 Dalit families in Karol Bagh

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Delhi HC orders urgent relief of food, shelter, healthcare at DDA demolition site

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SLIC interventions in homeless shelters

Writ Petition (C) No. 196 of 2001

Eviction Watch India.Vol.II

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