Urban homeless: HC tells govt to submit survey data

The High Court on Tuesday directed the government to submit all data regarding a survey conducted on urban homeless. The court also asked the government to submit details on setting up of night shelters in the state.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, was hearing the PIL filed by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL).

The bench said the government had given an undertaking before the Supreme Court in 2011 itself, that a comprehensive survey of urban homeless will be conducted within six months.

The undertaking also stated that necessary action will be taken to set up shelters with basic amenities. The court observed that the outcome of the survey is not placed on record.

“We direct the State Government to place on record the outcome of this survey of urban homeless in the state. If the survey has been completed necessary details thereof shall be placed on record. If the survey is completed the state will have to take appropriate decisions on the number of shelters required in the entire state,” the bench said.

Going through the affidavit filed by the government, the court said, out of 64 shelters in the state, only 47 are functional and the intake capacity in shelters set up in Bengaluru city is not more than 300.

“The state must be conscious of the fact that its failure to provide basic shelter to urban homeless amounts to violation of right to life guaranteed under the Constitution of India,” the bench said and granted time to the government till May 25 to collect the data and submit the same on record.

The petition challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975, and the Prohibition of Beggary Rules, 1975.

The petition prayed for directions to undertake an audit of the beggary cess collected and also for the implementation of operational guidelines for urban homeless shelters issued on May 29, 2014.