Order of status quo on demolition of 'jhuggis' extended till September 1

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday extended till September 1 its interim order directing the authorities to maintain status quo on the demolition of around 5,000 'jhuggis' in Gujarat for a Railway line project. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ramana had on Tuesday ordered status quo till August 25 after the matter was mentioned before it for urgent listing. The matter came up for hearing on Wednesday before a bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna. Additional Solicitor General Nataraj told that he is in the process of seeking instruction from the authority and the matter may be taken up after two days. He said the interim order passed in the matter may continue in the meantime.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who also appeared in the matter, said he was making the same request. As requested by the Solicitor General, list the matter on September 1, the bench said, adding, Interim order to continue till then .

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, had yesterday mentioned the matter for urgent listing and told the apex court that in compliance with the Gujarat HC's August 19 order, the authorities were going to start the demolition work on Tuesday itself and evict over 10,000 slum dwellers.

The bench, while ordering status quo, had directed that the matter be listed before an appropriate bench on Wednesday. Gonsalves had told the bench that the high court had vacated its July 23, 2014 interim order of status quo and permitted the Western Railways to go ahead with the Surat-

Udhna up to Jalgaon third Railway line project.