Maintain status quo at shelter, HC tells govt

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High court on Monday asked the Delhi government to maintain the status quo at a night shelter near Turkman Gate after a plea, alleging that it was given to AAP MLA Asim Ahmad Khan so that he could run his office from there, was filed before it.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V Kameswar Rao asked the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, the Delhi government and MLA Khan to file their response on the plea filed by activist Sunil Aleida.

The plea, filed through advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, had challenged a letter by the DUSIB, wherein it stated that it had allotted the building on Asaf Ali Road to the AAP MLA.

The Public Interest Litigation has alleged that the night shelter is located in an area where there is a “high concentration” of the homeless population and that most of them are handicapped. It also claimed that the shelter home was allotted to the MLA without making any alternative arrangement for the homeless. It sought immediate relief for the poor, homeless persons who are on the verge of being rendered shelterless by the authorities. Besides, it also sought directions to the authorities to arrange food and water for the elderly and handicapped persons displaced from the shelter home.

The court will hear the case next on November 1.