Can't uproot 50,000 overnight: Supreme Court

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, January 5

Terming it a “human issue”, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed an Uttarakhand High Court order for eviction of around 50,000 people who have illegally encroached upon 29 acres of land of the Railways in Haldwani.

Notice to state, Railways

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• The SC issued notice to Uttarakhand Govt and the Railways on pleas filed against the HC order on December 20, 2022

Occupants’ rights

• Emphasising rehab, the SC said many occupants had been residing there for decades, claiming rights on basis of leases and auctions

Railway proceedings not stayed

The Bench has clarified that it has only stayed the eviction order passed by the HC and not the proceedings initiated under the Railway Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.

“There cannot be the uprooting of 50,000 people overnight. There has to be segregation of people who have no right on the land and the need for rehabilitation while considering the interests of the Railways,” a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said. According to the Railways, there are 4,365 encroachers on the land on which around 50,000 people, mostly Muslims, reside. Thousands of families faced eviction from the Railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area after the Uttarakhand High Court on December 20, 2022, ordered the removal of encroachments after giving them one-week notice.

Many of them claimed the houses of those who left India during the 1947 Partition were auctioned by the government and bought by them. Claiming title to the land in question, the occupants have been staging a protest for several days. The Bench – which also included Justice AS Oka — said a workable solution should be found.

“We do believe that a workable arrangement is necessary to segregate people who may have no rights on the land…. coupled with schemes of rehabilitation which may already exist while recognising the need of the Railways,” it said, adding that the authorities have to find a “practical way out”.

“What is troubling is how you deal with the situation… human angle is involved… there has to be rehabilitation,” the top court said, staying the High Court’s order for removal of encroachers. It also ordered a restraint on further construction and development of the land.

Issuing notice to the Railways and the state of Uttarakhand on the petitions challenging the HC’s eviction order, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on February 7.

The Bench, however, clarified that it had only stayed the eviction order passed by the HC and not the proceedings initiated under the Railway Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.

It said those who didn’t have a right over the land would have to be removed even as it talked of a rehabilitation scheme.

“There are multiple angles arising from the nature of the land, ownership of the land, the nature of rights conferred… We are trying to tell you, find out some solution. This is a human issue,” the Bench told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Railways.

Represented by senior advocates Colin Gonsalves, Salman Khurshid and Sidharth Luthra and advocate Prashant Bhushan, the petitioners submitted that the HC gravely erred in passing the eviction order despite knowing that title disputes were pending before the district magistrate.