The Supreme Court issued notice to the Uttarakhand government and Indian Railways on the pleas challenging Uttarakhand High Court’s decision ordering the State authorities to remove encroachments from railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area. The next hearing in the case will take place on February 7.
Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay Oka heard the challenge today.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Wednesday allowed pleas seeking an urgent hearing after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter.
In their plea, the petitioners had mentioned that they are poor people who have been lawful residents of Mohalla Nai Basti, Haldwani district for more than 70 years.
According to Live Law, they further mentioned that the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the summary eviction of more than 20,000 people residing in more than 4000 houses despite the fact that proceedings regarding the title of the residents were pending before the district magistrate.
The petition stated that the names of local residents are entered in the municipal records of the house tax register and that they have been paying house tax regularly for years. Further, there are 5 government schools, one hospital and two overhead water tanks in the area.
The petitioners highlighted that the long-settled physical possession of the petitioners and their ancestors, some even prior to the date of Indian independence, has been recognized by the State and its agencies and they have been given gas and water connections and even Aadhaar card numbers accepting their residential addresses, the Live Law reported.
The petition further stated that the State of Uttarakhand was stopped from denying petitioners the title as the State had earlier filed a review petition in 2016 against an order passed by the High Court in that year for the removal of encroachments in railway lands.
The state had contended that there was no proper demarcation of railway land and the state revenue land and the railway authorities were marking the houses as illegal encroachments without proper demarcation of revenue land, according to Live Law.
Through the petition, the petitioners have highlighted that the "arbitrary and illegal approach" adopted by the railway and state authority had resulted in "the gross violation of the right to shelter of the petitioners as well as the other residents of the disputed land" and thus violated Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
The petition claimed that the High Court of Uttarakhand did not appreciate the evidence of title and lawful occupation submitted by the petitioners, stating, "The High Court in complete disregard of settled principles of title and occupation, collectively rejected all documents placed by the petitioners that clearly establish their title. The state in its review application acknowledged the legitimate title of the petitioners as an example of the validity of the title of the residents."
According to Live Law, the petition further stated that the powers of public authorities to remove encroachments for various development activities must be interpreted in the light of the international obligations of India as a result of the adoption of UN declarations and resolutions to which India is a party.