NEW DELHI: Seeking an urgent relief, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court claiming that landlords are evicting students for failure to pay rent during the lockdown, in violation of the Home Ministry’s order.
On March 29, the ministry had released an order urging landlords not to evict tenants for failing to pay rent during the lockdown.
The petition filed in the Supreme Court calls for the strict enforcement of this order.
The petitioner, Supreme Court lawyer Pawan Prakash Pathak, has submitted that the plea is being moved to enforce the fundamental rights of students at large, particularly the right to equality (Article 14) and the right to life as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Apart from Pathak, a final year student of Delhi University’s Campus Law Centre, Abhijeet Kumar Pandey, is also a petitioner in the case.
Pandey’s father is disabled and he survives on the money sent by his parents.
However, due to lockdown, there have been financial difficulties.
The plea also highlights the plight of students living as paying guests, where they were being provided with meals.
However, ever since the lockdown began, such students are not being given meals due to restrictions on the entry of cooks, while still being forced to cough up the PG rent.