NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the city government’s Chief Secretary to conduct a security and social audit of all the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) shelter homes in order to ensure eligible persons are occupied and not by any other persons.
A bench led by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the authorities concerned to start the exercise be done positively within six weeks while posting the matter for January 22 next year.
The court’s direction came after it was informed of the security issue of shelter homes, saying many of them were occupied by ineligible persons. “In view of this, a security and social audit has become necessary to collect quantifiable data of these shelter homes,” the court said.
The court was hearing a suo motu PIL on a media report related to the DUSIB shelter for homeless single women located in Nizamuddin. As per the media report shared by a High Court judge Justice C Hari Shankar, nearly 60 homeless single women including elderly and people with disabilities and 17 children are living in a shelter house at Nizamuddin run by Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) have started begging on street after their meals supply was stopped by the agency Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Further, the court had ordered food to be provided to all night shelters without fail.
“It has been brought to the notice of this Court that at present the government is providing food to all night shelters. It is directed that the practice of providing food to all night shelters, including the night shelter which is the subject matter of the present PIL, will continue and the same will not be discontinued without the leave of the Court,” the Chief Justice-led bench had earlier ordered.
Earlier this year, the HC had taken cognizance of news reports about people at these homes being deprived of cooked meals, and directed the foundation to continue providing food to all night shelters on the same payment basis as existed earlier.
HC takes cognizance of news reports
Earlier this year, the HC had taken cognizance of news reports about people at these homes being deprived of cooked meals, and directed the foundation to continue providing food to all night shelters on the same payment basis as existed earlier.