Delhi High Court issues notice on plea seeking electricity connections for Hindu migrants from Pakistan

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Delhi government in a plea seeking electricity connections for around 200 Hindu migrant families who had migrated from Pakistan (Hariom v. Govt of NCT of Delhi & Ors.).A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Amit Bansal of the Delhi High Court issued notice to the Delhi government, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited and the District Magistrate of North Delhi in the plea filed on behalf of the 800-odd Hindu migrants residing at the Delhi Jal Board Maidan at Adarsh Nagar in North Delhi."We are issuing the notice in this case. The same stands returnable on October 22," the Court said..The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a social worker Hariom sought directions to provide the migrants electricity connections on the basis of their Aadhar Card, long term visa and passport under the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (Supply Code & Performance Standards) Regulations, 2017."Around 200 families made up of 800 odd Hindu minority migrants from Pakistan (mostly from Sindh) are living on the aforesaid address without electricity from the past few years. They all have been suffering Delhi’s extreme weather conditions and current pandemic without electricity and without any help from the Government Authority," the petition stated.In addition to this, the petition also revealed how the problems of the migrants had been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic."During the pandemic when all schools have gone online, there is no electricity in the jhuggis (slums) and future of their children is in dark."The petition also pointed out how frequent cases of malaria and dengue are coming up in these jhuggis.It was also submitted that the petitioner had approached multiple government authorities, but unfortunately could not succeed in getting electricity for the migrants as a valid ownership proof of applied address was required for the same..Advocate Satyakam appeared for the Delhi government, while Advocate Rohit Madan appeared for the social worker. The plea was filed through Advocates Samiksha Mittal, Ankit Vajpai and Ayush Saxsena..Read petition here: