Provide Night Shelter, No Homeless Person to Sleep under Open

New Delhi: The Supreme Court directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelter to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under sky this winter. A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Dipak Misra asked the governments to file their detailed report on the status of night shelters which are operating in their states by January 3 next year. The bench, which passed separate orders for different states, asked the Chief Secretaries to ensure building sufficient number of shelters for the homeless and poor people. "We direct the Chief Secretary to supervise and ensure that adequate number of night shelters are made available so that people are not compelled to spend nights on pavements and in parks," the bench said while passing the order for Delhi. The court passed similar orders for other states and posted the matter for further hearing on January 9 when it would take stock of the situation. The apex court passed the direction after counsel Colin Gonzalves, appearing for PUCL which filed the PIL on shelter facilities for the homeless in the country, brought to the court''s notice that state governments have so far not been able to build adequate number of night shelters for the homeless. The apex court had earlier passed a series of directions to states for setting up night shelters and permanent shelters for the homeless throughout the country following reports that a number of them have died due to biting cold wave conditions.