No one dying in roadside shelter homes: Centre to SC

NEW DELHI: None of the migrant workers at roadside shelter homes, created following the lockdown, was dead, the Centre has told the Supreme Court. Home minister Amit Shah was monitoring dedicated hotlines to deal with migrants’ complaints too, the Centre told SC on Tuesday.

Responding to a public interest litigation filed by activists Harsh Mander and Anjali Bhardwaj that pleaded that the migrants be allowed to go to their village homes, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that since they were sheltered and fed, there was no need to give them money. Swami Agnivesh too had filed a second PIL on the condition of the fleeing migrant workers. “No one is dying in the shelter homes,” Mehta said.

A bench led by CJI SA Bobde deferred the hearing till Monday on the grounds that the petitioners must first read the affidavit in response to a court notice on the PIL. “How can you say that the government is not doing anything when you haven’t seen the government’s status report,” the CJI asked the petitioners. “There’s a dispute on facts and the best course to be adopted.


We cannot take a better policy decision at this stage. We don’t want to interfere with government decisions for the next 10 to 15 days,” the CJI said. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan said that by the time the court reassembled to hear the plea, people would die unless those registered with the government were given money.