Can’t Uproot 50,000 Overnight says Supreme Court
AGENCIES
In a major relief to thousands of people who were facing threat of being left homeless in the middle of the harsh winter, the Supreme Court on Thursday halted the eviction drive on what railways say it is their land in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani.
“There cannot be uprooting of 50,000 people overnight… It’s a human issue, some workable solution needs to be found,” the Supreme Court said, as it stopped an Uttarakhand High Court order that had cleared the eviction of the people who live in some 4,000 homes after a case that went on for years.
Referring to the suggestion by the high court of using force to evict the people, the Supreme Court said, “It may not be correct to say that paramilitary forces have to be deployed to remove people who have been living there for decades.”
The court also stopped any construction in the area and sought responses from the railways and the Uttarakhand government. It said the case will be heard again next month.
Supreme Court Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice AS Oka took up the case a day after activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan made a formal request.
The order comes as a major relief for residents who have been holding candle marches, sit-ins and prayers to stop the eviction.
The area covers a 2-km strip of land near the Haldwani railway station – Gafoor Basti, Dholak Basti and Indira Nagar, in Banbhulpura area.
Besides houses – nearly half of the families claim to have a land lease – the area even has four government schools, 11 private schools, a bank, two overhead water tanks, 10 mosques, and four temples, besides shops, built over decades.
On 20 December, a two-judge bench of the high court had asked the railways to “use the forces to any extent determining upon need” to evict the “unauthorised occupants” after giving them a week’s notice.
But the Supreme Court said “thousands cannot be uprooted overnight” and added that a rehabilitation scheme should be put in place before evictions.
The legal battle began after a public interest litigation on illegal mining in the area was filed in 2013 – later, the scope of the case was widened to include the alleged encroachments as well.
From 1 January, the residents started getting eviction notices. Hundreds of people – including women and children – have been protesting for days against the order.