CJI seeks report on demolition

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 13. Moved by the plight of two orphans whose room in Neharwali Haveli here was reportedly demolished to clear the way for the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's visit on July 14, the Chief Justice of India, Dr. A.S. Anand, also patron- in- chief of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), directed the Member-Secretary, NALSA, Mr. S.M. Chopra, to contact the children and submit a report by the evening.

The CJI directed Mr. Chopra to offer the children any legal assistance required to ventilate their rights. He was also directed to find out from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which was alleged to be responsible for the demolition, as to what alternative arrangements had been made and how it (the MCD) was going to rehabilitate the children in the Haveli later.

The CJI took the suo motu action on the basis of ``disturbing news items'' in this regard in almost all national dailies. The demolished room, according to reports, had been occupied by their father and after his death, by the children for a long period.

With the demolition, two innocent children had been rendered homeless and ``what is more disturbing is'', according to news reports, ``that they were not put on notice before the demolition and they discovered it on return from their school,'' the CJI observed in his notice to Mr. Chopra.

Sonia steps in

PTI adds:

Anguished by the demolition, the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, has directed the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms. Shiela Dixit, to provide alternative accommodation and adequate financial support to the children.

``Soon after Ms. Gandhi came to know of the demolition, she advised Ms. Dixit that even though the Delhi Government was neither involved nor associated with the security drill, all help must be extended to the two orphaned children,'' the party spokesman, Mr. Anand Sharma, told presspersons.

Ms. Dixit, he said, immediately sent the Delhi Minister for Social Welfare with an offer to provide alternative accommodation and financial support to the children.

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