CHENNAI: CPM state secretary P Shanmugam has criticised a spate of recent court orders directing the eviction of slum dwellers, calling them an assault on the housing rights of the urban poor.

In a statement, he urged the State government to immediately halt all eviction drives and file appeals against such verdicts in higher courts.

Shanmugam said there was a disturbing trend of specific individuals and organisations filing public interest litigations in the name of protecting waterbodies, leading to court orders asking residents to vacate their homes within fixed timelines.

"No one can argue against the need to conserve waterbodies, but it is alarming that only hutments are seen as threats while massive corporate encroachments are curiously overlooked. It is as if the buildings of large companies allow rainwater to flow freely while only slums obstruct natural flow," he said.

Citing the Madras High Court's recent directive to evict over 1,000 families from Pattinapakkam and Srinivasapuram along the Adyar estuary and another 150 families from Thiruverkadu within eight weeks, he said that the court, led by Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan, also warned of contempt proceedings against officials who failed to act.

The CPM leader contended that these orders rendered poor families homeless and ignored the Constitutional right to housing. He said the judiciary's stance seemed one-sided and pointed out that there had been no comparable judicial activism against corporate encroachments. "No one chooses to live by a river out of desire, but out of compulsion. Yet, the poor are being displaced as though they were weeds," he said.

Shanmugam called on government advocates to represent the people's interests more assertively in such cases and urged the State to file an appeal against these orders and suspend all evictions until then.