SC raps Indian Railways for trying to evict 4,000 families in Uttarakhand by ‘riding on back of PIL’
The High Court in December 2022, as part of a public interest litigation, had ordered that a land parcel in Haldwani be cleared of encroachments.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rapped the Indian Railways for attempting to evict around 4,000 families – mostly Muslims – in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani using orders passed in a public interest litigation, instead of following the proper legal procedure, reported Bar and Bench.
The families stand to be evicted from land claimed by the Indian Railways, in the town’s Banbhoolpura area, based on a December 2022 High Court order in a public interest litigation. The residents, however, claim that the land does not belong to the Indian Railways.
The bench pointed out that the Indian Railways, instead of initiating the eviction based on the December 2022 order, should have first sent advance notices to the 4,000 families as per the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act.
“Railways did not act so far,” the court remarked. “If you want to evict people then issue notice; why riding on the back of a PIL? Cannot use this. They are also people are they not? Instead of Public Premises Act, you came on a PIL. This is very wrong.”
On January 5, 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the High Court’s order amid protests by the residents. The affected families contended that the state’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party government did not argue the case properly, which led the High Court to pass an adverse order against them.
They also said that eviction would render the families homeless.
In May 2023, the top court made its stay order absolute.
On Wednesday, the Railways moved an application seeking a limited vacation of the stay order. The agency said it needed to repair the infrastructure of a railway building in Haldwani that had been damaged during rains, reported Bar and Bench.
Justice Kant noted that some families have been staying on the disputed land since before Independence.
“At the same time, let us keep this away from vested local interests,” he added. “There are so many vultures, who must have told them they have title rights”.
With this in mind, the Supreme Court directed the Union and state governments to identify the number of affected families and the amount of land needed to rehabilitate them.
The Uttarakhand chief secretary was directed to promptly formulate a rehabilitation plan in consultation with the Indian Railways and the Union housing ministry.
The matter will be heard next on September 11.
