Haldwani Eviction: Supreme Court berates Railways for relying on order in PIL to evict people

The Supreme Court on Wednesday objected to the Indian Railways piggybacking on orders passed in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition to evict persons at Uttarakhand's Haldwani instead of following the procedure prescribed under law. [Abdul Mateen Siddiqui vs Union of India and ors].A Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan stressed that the proper course of action under law would have been to serve necessary advance notices to the evictees in line with the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act.Instead, the Railways had started the eviction based on an order passed by the Uttarakhand High Court in December 2022 in a PIL petition. More than 4,000 families are facing eviction from railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura after the High Court directed removal of encroachment in the area. "Railways did not act so far. 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 PP Act, you came on a PIL. This is very wrong", Justice Bhuyan remarked.Justice Kant agreed with the same..The Supreme Court had in May last year made absolute its earlier stay of the Uttarakhand High Court order that had directed the removal of encroachments.The families facing eviction had moved the apex court after the High Court had refused to grant them relief.It was contended by the affected families that the BJP-ruled State government did not argue their case properly before the High Court as a consequence of which the Court ruled in favour of the Railways.Further, the eviction of the petitioners would render them homeless since they belong to marginalised sections of the society..Today, an application moved by the State seeking a limited vacation of the stay was listed before the top court. This, the Railways contended, was necessary to fix and revamp the railway station at Haldwani that had been damaged during the rains. The Indian Railways argued the eviction was necessary to make the station capable of handling flagship trains like Vande Bharat. Justice Kant said that some families were residing on the land since before Indian independence."At the same time, let us keep this away from vested local interests. There are so many vultures, who must have told them they have title rights", he added..In view of the fact that hundreds of families have been living there for decades, the Supreme Court directed the Union and State governments to take the following steps within a month.(i) In the first phase, to identify the strip of the land (the width and the length), which is required immediately for the purpose of shifting of the railway line or for construction of necessary infrastructure; (ii) To identify the families, who are likely to be affected in the event of vacation from that land; and (iii) The proposed site where such affected/uprooted families can 4 be rehabilitated.The Uttarakhand Chief Secretary was asked to convene a meeting with the Indian Railways and the Union Housing Ministry, so as to immediately prepare a rehabilitation scheme subject to necessary approvals.The matter will be taken up next on September 11..Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the Indian Railways.Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves and Sidharth Luthra appeared for the affected families..[Read order]