The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Uttarakhand High Court order directing removal of encroachments on Indian Railways' land in Uttarakhand's Haldwani, which would have led to eviction of more than 4,000 families who are residing on land [Abdul Mateen Siddiqui vs Union of India and ors].

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka disapproved the manner in which eviction was sought to be carried out by the Indian Railways.

"There shall be a stay on the directions passed by the High Court," the top court ordered.

We have not stayed the proceedings and only the directions of the High Court have been stayed, the Court clarified.

The Court also said that there shall be no further construction or development on the disputed land.

The order was passed after noting that the case involves land which has been in possession of those affected for many decades with most of them claiming title to the land and many having lived on the land for 60 to 60 years.

Hence, there should be measures for rehabilitation since the issue involves a human angle.

"What is troubling us is how do you deal with a situation where people bought in auction and took possession after 1947 and acquired title. Wou may acquire the land but what to do now. People lived for 60-70 years some rehabilitation has to be done. There must be a culmination to the issue and we do not encourage what is going on," Justice Kaul said.

He further pointed out that even in cases of clear encroachments with people having no rights at all, governments have often rehabilitated the affected.

"Even in those cases where there are no rights at all even in them rehabilitation has to be done. But in some cases where they acquired title.. you have to find a solution. There is a human angle to this issue," he remarked.

More than 4,000 families are facing eviction from railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area after an Uttarakhand High Court order passed in December 2022 directed the removal of encroachments.

Those facing eviction have been living on the land for many decades, and moved the present plea after the High Court refused to grant them relief.

It was contended 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.

The petitioners argued that adjudication of title in respect of an immovable property entails exhaustive examination of documents / witnesses, cross-examination of witnesses, review of pleadings etc., which could not have been done by the High Court in a summary proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution.

The High Court gravely erred in holding that the Public Premises Act is not applicable to the Railway Authorities, the petitioners submitted.

"The said error is multifaceted. Firstly, the applicability of the Public Premises Act was not challenged and no relief qua the same was sought in the PIL and hence the High Court ought to not have taken it upon itself to enter into an undisputed issue".

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioners, said that the possession of the land has been with the petitioners since prior independence and government leases have also been executed in their favour.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Indian Railways, submitted that due process has been followed and the land in question belongs to the Railways.

The Court after hearing the parties issued notice to State of Uttarakhand and Indian Railways and posted the case for further consideration on February 7.

Haldwani protest could be Shaheen Bagh 2.0

The caterwauling in the name of Allah, holding up placards, facilitated crying and victim playing, women and children out in the cold challenging against ‘state atrocity’ and the online shills spreading bogus news – the Haldwani issue has all the makings of burgeoning into a Shaheen Bagh like circumstance. Since the 28th of December 2022, the residents of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, generally Muslims, have been challenging against the authorities, who in understanding with a High Court order, propelled a drive to clear encroachments from Railway land within the range.

The protesters have been making insinuations about how the State is persecuting them because they are Muslim. According to the reports, around 4000 families, the majority of whom are Muslims have been staying in the area for decades on the 29 acres of railway land that has been encroached upon by the residents. For years, railway authorities have contended that encroachment is impeding growth and expansion efforts.

However, on December 27, a strategy was developed to eliminate encroachments on railway land in the Banbhoolpura district. The master plan was developed during a high-level meeting involving administrative authorities and ADRM railways in response to a recent Uttarakhand High Court ruling for the elimination of encroachments.

The Uttarakhand High Court had recently ordered the authorities to evict forthwith the unauthorized occupants to vacate the premises from the railway land adjoining Haldwani Railway Station, commonly called Gaffur Basti. Accordingly, the action was initiated on December 29 after providing residents with a one-week prior notice.

Further, in accordance with the court ruling, residents of the Banbhoolpura area in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani who live on encroached railway land were also asked to surrender their licensed weapons and guns with the administration before the process of removing encroachments began. 

The issue over railway land encroachment in the Haldwani area dates back to 2007 when railway officials conducted eviction operations for land segmentation and clearance of encroachment. It did, however, result in fights and arson, as well as demonstrations and stone-pelting.

On July 27, 2021, the North Eastern Railways delivered over 1,000 eviction notices to Banbhoolpura residents, instructing them to vacate their homes within 15 days. In April, over 500 people received similar notices, while 1,581 people received identical notices in January. The tenants then contended that the continuous distribution of eviction notices was done only to annoy them while the case was still in court.

The Uttarakhand High Court had previously asked the North Eastern Railway administration to remove encroachments on railway land in an order dated November 9, 2016. In the aftermath of the ruling, about 4,365 notifications were issued that year. After dismissing the state’s review plea, the court ordered the expulsion of informal settlers within four weeks in January 2017. The Supreme Court, however, postponed the ruling for three months, citing the fact that the High Court had not heard the petitioners before issuing the eviction order.

From the brief history of the issue, some facts become evident:

1. This is not an eviction drive that is being carried out at the whim of the administration. The authorities have been trying to evict land encroachers since 2007 – that is 15 years.
2. The eviction drive is a result of a High Court order, therefore, it is safe to say that the legal process has been followed by the authorities in order to carry out this demolition drive.
3. When an eviction operation was conducted in 2007, the residents of Haldwani, who are today wailing and crying, indulged in arson and rioting against the eviction drive.
4. There were several eviction notices furnished to the residents of Haldwani, who today seem to be insinuating that they are in a state of shock that their illegal houses, constructed on Railway land, are being demolished.
5. The Supreme Court, when approached by the residents, had asked them to go back to the High Court. SC had asked HC to decide their pleas in 3 months – this was in 2017. It was a couple of weeks ago that the High Court passed the judgement to remove encroachments from Haldwani.
6. After the High Court order, Rajendra Singh, Railway PRO, Izzat Nagar had said that there were 4365 encroachments and the eviction notices were served through the local newspaper. He said that the residents were given 7 days to shift, after which, the demolition would take place.
7. It is pertinent to note that after the High Court judgement and the eviction notice being served for the residents to shift in 7 days, the residents have spent their time protesting, blocking roads, talking to the media, crying ‘persecution’ and playing victim, with sympathetic voices in the media trying to build a narrative about a grave injustice being meted out to the Muslim residents.

From the facts of the case, it is evident that this eviction drive was 15 years in the making, with the residents being given ample hearing in a court of law and sufficient time by the authorities to move out of the illegal residences.

But the narrative that is now being built has all the marking of a protest being crafted to mirror the 2019-2020 Shaheen Bagh protest that ultimately led to the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots in February 2020. The ongoing protests in Haldwani, the imagery being used and the narrative being weaved by Islamist allies have uncanny parallels to what we saw unfolding in 2019-2020.

Haldwani Truth Out: RTI Reveals Encroachment On 31.87 Hectares Of Land

Indian Railways Right to Information (RTI) reply accessed by Republic has exposed the Haldwani encroachment truth. The document revealed encroachment on 31.81 hectares of land in Haldwani.

According to the Railway RTI reply dated October 2, 2020, over 4,300 cases have been filed in the city regarding the encroachment. It said that the disposal of about 400 cases is in the final process.

RTI response exposes encroachment:

• Encroachment on 31.81 hectares of land in Haldwani
• 4365 cases filed in Haldwani regarding encroachment
• The disposal of about 400 cases is in the final process
• Presently all 4365 cases are pending
• All the cases are pending in court due to COVID

Thousands of residents in the Banbhoolpura area of Uttarakhand's Haldwani are protesting the removal of encroachments, saying it will render them homeless and threaten the future of their school-going children. On Tuesday, a massive sit-in protest was held against the clearance of illegal encroachments from 29 acres of railway land.

On December 20, the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the removal of encroachments from land belonging to the railway in the Banbhoolpura area after giving notice to the residents one week in advance. 

4 things to know about the Haldwani Encroachment

• Railways land encroached near Haldwani
• Around 4,500 people residence on encroached land
• The land includes 20 Mosques and 9 Temples
• 2 Inter Colleges, a Primary School and PHC

Led by Congress Haldwani MLA Sumit Hridayesh, the protesters have moved the Supreme Court against the HC's order on the removal of encroachments. The apex court will hear the matter on January 5, he said.

"They have been living in the area for 70 years. There is a mosque, temple, overhead water tank, a PHC, a sewer line laid in 1970, two inter colleges, and a primary school," AICC secretary Qazi Nizamuddin, also a former MLA from Manglaur, said. 

"We appeal to the prime minister, the railway ministry and the chief minister to take a humane view of the matter and stop the removal of so-called encroachments," he said.

However, since Court decided to repeat the shenanigans that it pulled off during Shaheen Bagh, the situation could now snowball before we realise it. During the Shaheen Bagh protest, the High Court had summarily refused to hear a petition that called for the protestors to be removed, citing inconvenience being caused to the general public.

When the matter went to the Supreme Court, instead of acting in a decisive manner, the Supreme Court appointed interlocutors to beg the Islamists to move their protest to another location. What followed was elements like Teesta Setalvad coaching the protestors of Shaheen Bagh and the protestors furnishing a list of demands to the Supreme Court itself. With the lack of intervention of the court and the Government summarily pushing the ball in the Judiciary’s court, the protests raged on, culminating in the Delhi anti-Hindu riots.

In this case, the Court decided again to toe the liberal line and make statements “upholding the right to protest”, and the government refuses to act decisively, it is not too far from the realm of possibility that Haldwani would be Shaheen Bagh 2.0 – a breeding ground of Islamism, anti-India narrative, misplaced Muslim victimhood, fake news, instigation to violence and finally, violence.

814 hectares of rail land under encroachment across country: Railway minister

The railway ministry in September 2020 informed Parliament that 814 hectares of the national transporter's land is under encroachment across its 17 zones. Replying to a query in Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply said most of the encroachments are near railway stations.

"Most of the encroachments on Railway land are in the approaches of stations in Metros and big cities in the form of slums around railway tracks. The State-wise details are not maintained by the Railways," he said, listing the zone-wise details of encroachments as on March 31 this year.

The Supreme Court, in its order dated August 31 issued in the context of piling up of the waste/garbage beside the railway tracks in Delhi, has directed for preparation of a comprehensive plan for removal of jhuggis present along the tracks and removal of encroachments in the safety zone in the region of National Capital Territory of Delhi within a period of three months.

According to the list presented by the Railways, the most encroached land -- 175 hectares -- is in the Northern Railway zone which serves the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the union territories of Chandigarh and Delhi.

This is followed by the South Eastern Railway zone with 141.16 hectares under encroachment.

References:

barandbench.com