Supreme Court grants 2 months time to Uttarakhand to rehabilitate Railways land encroachers

The Uttarakhand government sought the time saying that around 4,500 families live on the land and financial arrangements have to be made between the railways and the state for their relocation.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted two months time to the Uttarakhand government to submit a concrete proposal for the rehabilitation of 50,000 people who were sought to be removed from alleged illegal occupation of Railways land in Haldwani.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the state government to put the concrete proposal on record as it submitted that in compliance with the court's earlier order, a joint meeting of the state, railways and other stakeholders was held and the process of identifying the land required for a project of the public sector transport behemoth is in progress.

"The process of identifying the strip of land which is required immediately or which will be required in due course of time for completion of the project has commenced. Similarly, the matter for rehabilitation of those who are likely to be affected is also under active consideration and given two months time, a concrete proposal shall be placed on record," the bench said.

The railways filed a plea seeking vacation of its January 5, 2023 order which stayed the Uttarakhand High Court's direction for removal of encroachments from around 30 acres of land claimed by the railways in Haldwani.

The plea sought a strip of the land to be made available urgently to facilitate railway operations as a retaining wall protecting the tracks had collapsed during the floods last year.

Senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the Uttarakhand government, sought two months for finalising the rehabilitation proposal. He said around 4,500 families live on the land and financial arrangements have to be made between the railways and the state for their relocation. "For that we are seeking time because after a few meetings we could not reach any consensus," he said.

He said a new rehabilitation policy is also in the works.

Singh said the railways is in the process of identifying the land needed for their rehabilitation and a survey is also underway to ascertain how many people would be required to be shifted.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the affected families, said since the retaining wall which was breached due to floods is almost complete, the flooding of railway tracks is not possible anymore. He said there was no need for shifting anyone from the place.

The railways, however, sought a direction for shifting of the families to facilitate creation of more infrastructure.

The top court said its interim order of stay on the high court's order will continue.

On July 24, the top court had directed the Uttarakhand chief secretary to hold a meeting with the Centre and the railways to find ways to rehabilitate the people who have encroached upon the railway land.

It had directed the state government to identify the land required for upgradation of railway infrastructure and families likely to be affected due to the proposed eviction.

According to the railways, there are 4,365 encroachers on the land. The residents are resisting any move to relocate them, asserting they are the rightful owners.

Nearly 50,000 people, a majority of them Muslims, belonging to over 4,000 families reside on the disputed land.

On January 5, 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the Uttarakhand High Court's order directing eviction of over 4000 families within seven days in Haldwani allegedly on 29 acres of Railways land, saying there can't be overnight displacement as it is related to a human issue.