MUMBAI, Nov 18: A divisional bench of the Bombay High Court today directed the forest department to ensure that the slumdwellers living in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivli before January 1, 1995, be the first to to be rehabilitated before their homes are demolished.

According to a press note released by Nivara Hakk Suraksha Samiti, Justice A C Aggarwal and Justice Vishnu Sahai in their ad interim order have observed: ``It will be impermissible for the government to carry out demolition in violation of the directions contained in the aforesaid order."

The order was passed after the Nivara Hakk Suraksha Samiti, an organisation working for the protection of slum dwellers' rights, filed a writ petition in the High Court on November 14 against the illegal demolition of a basti of 110 families located at Matangarh, situated within the park.

The slum dwellers' organisation also says that the High Court has also stayed the demolition work that would have put the lives of at least 166 families in the same locality in jeopardy. The forest authorities have been asked to examine the eligibility documents.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.