Stormy May leaves Delhi with 507% excess rainfall

NEW DELHI: Temperature soared on Saturday afternoon amid cloudy skies but thunderstorm along with gusty winds in some parts brought a relief as the mercury dropped sharply towards the evening.

- Shruti Kakkar

NEW DELHI: Pakistani Hindu refugees cannot be entitled to seek alternative accommodation as a matter of legal right on account of their foreign nationality, the Delhi high court has held.

Dismissing a petition by the refugees seeking to restrain the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) from demolishing a refugee camp at Majnu Ka Tilla, until their resettlement on an alternative land, a bench of Justice Dharmesh Sharma said that the petitioners cannot rely on May 2013 direction of the Centre to seek alternative accommodation as a matter of legal right.

The court was hearing a plea filed by an activist, Ravi Ranjan Singh, against the proposed demolition. The refugee camp in question has approximately 800 Hindu refugees from Pakistan. The land falls under the Yamuna floodplains.

Singh urged the court to restrain DDA from demolishing the camp until refugees were allowed alternative land to live in. He said the primary responsibility to accommodate the refugees rests on the Centre's shoulders, as the plea relied on the Centre's May 2013 statement on extending support to the Hindu community from Pakistan.