New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court Tuesday expressed displeasure that commissioner of Faridabad municipal corporation was changed in the midst of the process of rehabilitation of eligible persons, after unauthorised constructions on Aravali forest area in Khori village were removed.

A bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari said the authority does not have “even the courtesy” to inform the apex court that the commissioner has been changed.

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“On the last occasion, we did not say anything but we have taken note of it that in the midst of this thing, which is regularly going on, you have changed your commissioner. Nobody had even the courtesy to inform the court that you are changing the commissioner,” the bench said.

“Why the commissioner was changed like this without our permission? Some work was going on,” the bench observed, adding, “What is happening to those farmhouses which are encroachments? Have you taken action on that.”

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The top court made the remarks while hearing the Khori village matter in which the civic body has filed an affidavit saying it will make all efforts to complete the process of rehabilitation for eligible persons, including handing over possession of EWS flats, by April 30 next year.

The corporation said it has removed unauthorised constructions on 150 acres land in the area and during the removal, they had provided temporary shelter with basic amenities to the ‘jhuggi' dwellers who approached for the same.

It said the corporation has formulated a 'Housing plan for rehabilitation of Khori (Lakkarpur revenue estate) Jhuggi dwellers sitting on land owned by Municipal Corporation Faridabad' which was approved by the state government.

It said as per the plan, the eligible residents will submit the application for allotment of EWS flats to the municipal corporation by October 15.

It said preliminary scrutiny of applications received by the corporation up to October 15 will be carried out by October 25 and after completion of this process, the final list of eligible applicants will be published indicating the date of draw.

"After draw as per schedule, the allotment letter with the terms and conditions of allotment will be issued to the eligible applicants and upon fulfilling the conditions of allotment letter, the possession of EWS flats will be handed over," it said.

"The petitioner corporation will make all efforts to complete the entire process including handing over possession by April 30, 2022," it said.

Giving a tentative time schedule for rehabilitation of eligible applicants, it said publication of final list will be done on October 27 and the draw will be held on October 30.

It said allotment letter is likely to be issued on November 15.

It said these timelines have been framed in view of present factual position and circumstances and to achieve these timelines, the civic body has floated tender on September 8 for maintenance of EWS flats at Dabua and Bapu Nagar.

It said the plan was finalised by the corporation after considering the suggestions given by the jhuggi dwellers from time to time.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the corporation, referred to the affidavit and said the civic body will be making a payment of rent/solatium of Rs 2,000 per month to the eligible applicants from November 1 for six months or actual physical possession of flats, whichever is earlier.

The apex court observed that schedule indicating April 30 next year for handing over possession of flats to eligible applicants is “too long”

The bench also expressed displeasure as to why the corporation "keeps on changing counsel" as the court had given some suggestions to senior advocate Arun Bhardwaj, who had appeared for the civic body, on the last date of hearing about provisional allotment to eligible persons.

Bhati said Bhardwaj was also appearing in the matter for the corporation and they both are before the court to assist it.

On the suggestion given by the bench, the civic body in-principle agreed to roll out provisional allotment of houses to rehabilitate eligible people.

The counsel appearing for some of the petitioners, including those who were residing in the village, said there were some issues regarding eligibility criteria under the rehabilitation plan.

The bench said it would consider those aspects on the next date of hearing on September 20.

On September 6, the apex court had asked the municipal corporation to indicate the time line required for rehabilitating eligible people

On June 7, the top court had directed Haryana government and Faridabad municipal corporation to remove “all encroachments”, consisting around 10,000 residential constructions, in 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)