W.P.(C) 4785/2008

Page 1 of 32

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Reserved on: 2^nd June, 2022

Pronounced on: 4^th July, 2022

+

W.P.(C) 4785/2008 & CM APPL. 9216/2008

SAMARPAL & ORS

..... Petitioners

Through:

Mr. N.S. Dalal, Ms. Rachana

Dalal and Mr. Alok Kumar, Advs.

versus

UOI & ORS

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Parvinder Chauhan and

Mr. Sushil Dixit, Adv. for DUSIB

Ms. Geetanjali Mohan, Adv. for R-2

CORAM:

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR

%

J U D G M E N T

04 .07.2022

1.

The homeless, who people the pavements, the footpaths, and

those inaccessible nooks and crannies of the city from where the

teeming multitude prefer to avert their eyes, live on the fringes of

existence. Indeed, they do not live, but merely exist; for life, with its

myriad complexions and contours, envisaged by Article 21 of our

Constitution, is unknown to them. Even a bare attempt at imagining

how they live is, for us, peering out from our gilt-edged cocoons,

cathartic. And so we prefer not to do so; as a result, these denizens of

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/002385

W.P.(C) 4785/2008

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the dark continue to eke out their existence, not day by day, but often

hour by hour, if not minute by minute.

2.

Articles 38¹ and 39² of the Constitution of India obligate the

State to secure a social order in which the sacred preambular goal of

justice, social, economic and political, informs all institutions of

national life and, towards this end, to strive to minimise inequalities in

income, and to endeavour to eliminate inequalities and status,

facilities and opportunities. In particular, Article 39 requires the State

to direct its policy towards securing (i) that citizens have the right to

an adequate means to livelihood (vide clause (a)), (ii) that ownership

and control of material resources of the community are so distributed

as best to subserve the common good (vide clause (b)) and (iii) that

the operation of the economic system does not result in concentration

of wealth and means of production to the common detriment (vide

clause (c)). Alleviation of the plight of the poor and homeless is

subsumed in each of these directive principles which, though they are

138.

State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people. –

(1)

The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as

effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all

the institutions of the national life.

(2)

The State shall, in particular, strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavour to

eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst

groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations.

239.

Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State. – The State shall, in particular, direct its

policy towards securing –

(a)

that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means to

livelihood;

(b)

that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so

distributed as best to subserve the common good;

(c)

that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth

and means of production to the common detriment;

(d)

that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women;

(e)

that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children

are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited

to their age or strength;

(f)

that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in

conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation

and against moral and ma