New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court Thursday said that municipal corporation of Faridabad is liable to pay solatium of Rs 2,000 per month to those who are eligible to get EWS flats under a rehabilitation scheme for residents of Khori village, where unauthorised structures coming under the Aravali forest area were demolished, until issuance of possession letter.

The apex court was informed by the counsel appearing for the civic body that 1,027 applicants have been found eligible and they would be allotted flats on permanent basis by end of April.

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A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar was informed by the counsel appearing for some petitioners that flats given in the provisional allotment to the eligible applicants are not in “habitable condition”.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for some of the petitioners, said the payment of solatium, which was for a period of six months, must continue till the flats given are in a habitable condition.

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“Until permanent accommodation is offered to the eligible persons, the corporation shall be liable to pay ex-gratia solatium amount of Rs 2,000 per month until the date of issuance of possession letter by the corporation,” said the bench, also comprising Justices A S Oka and C T Ravikumar.

The bench said the fact that the premises are in habitable condition be certified by the commissioner of the municipal corporation and possession letter can be issued only after it is certified that the premises allotted are in habitable condition and can be occupied immediately.

The civic body had last year told the top court that they will be making a payment of rent/solatium of Rs 2,000 per month to eligible applicants from November 1, 2021 for six months or actual physical possession of flats, whichever is earlier.

During the hearing on Thursday, Parikh told the bench that nobody has occupied the flats which were allotted provisionally as they are in bad condition.

The corporation's counsel said they had scrutinized around 5,000 applications out of which 1,027 applicants were are found eligible under the scheme.

He said the corporation had made provisional allotment but nobody came to actually occupy the flats.

The corporation's counsel said they had told the apex court last year that by April 30, 2022, they would give them final possession of the flats. “The flats should be made habitable, which you have not done so far,” the bench observed.

“Those who are eligible and those who could not occupy the premises on the ground that flat is inhabitable, they should be compensated ….,” it said.

The bench noted that it has been brought to its notice that the plot, on which unauthorized structures were removed, is being misused by the locals.

It directed the Superintendent of Police, Faridabad, to provide necessary assistance to the corporation to ensure that no encroachment or misutilization of the area or plot in question takes place in future.

The bench said as the corporation is already working on a plan for development of the entire area, the secretary of the forest department may issue appropriate instructions to facilitate plantation of trees there.

It has posted the matter for further hearing on April 26.

Meanwhile, the bench reserved its judgement on the separate pleas which raises issues regarding forest and non-forest land in Haryana.

The apex court is seized of the pleas which raised the issue regarding forest and non-forest land in reference to interplay between provisions of the PLPA 1900, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the land which forms part of development plan under the Faridabad Complex (Regulation and Development) Act, 1971.

In a status report filed earlier in the top court, the municipal corporation of Faridabad had given details including that of the modified timeline for the process of allotment under the rehabilitation scheme to eligible applicants of Khori 'jhuggis'.

On June 7 last year, the top court had directed Haryana and Faridabad municipal corporation to remove “all encroachments”, consisting of around 10,000 residential constructions, in the Aravali forest area near the village, saying “land grabbers cannot take refuge of rule of law” and talk of “fairness”.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)