Haldwani encroachments: Supreme Court directs Uttarakhand chief secretary to hold meet for rehabilitation of affected

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary to convene a meeting with the Centre and Railways for rehabilitation of over 50,000 people, who were sought to be removed from railway land in Haldwani.

It said, "people have been living there for past three or four decades" and "they are human beings and courts cannot be ruthless".

A three-judge bench presided over by Justice Surya Kant said the state government will have to provide the scheme as to how and where these people will be rehabilitated. 

"The ultimate thing is that families have been living on this land for decades. Courts need to maintain a balance and the state needs to do something," the bench, also comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan, said.

Appearing for Railways, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said it has no policy in connection with rehabilitation and unfortunately huge chunks of Railway Land has been encroached, even up to safety operations. 

The Uttarakhand government counsel said, in the disputed area, only 13 persons have freehold rights and 4,365 families have encroached upon the land, where over 50,000 persons are living.

"People have been living there for the past three and four decades, five decades…before independence or after independence. You want to uproot everything, you have not done in all these years," the bench said.

The court felt some reasonable opportunity should be given to those who are claiming title on the basis of documents.

"Assuming they are encroachers, assuming everything against them, after all they are human beings living there for decades. It is not a question of one or two huts, these are all pacca houses, maybe 40 years or 60 years they are living there," the bench said.

Bhati said the court should allow Railways to have safe operations so that the larger public interest of the whole area can be protected. 

She contended the expansion plan of 2017 was abandoned.

"This is the last railway station before the hills. For the entire Kumaon region this is the only connectivity. Now, the plan envisages trains like Vande Bharat etc, to go there but they need 24 coach's platform. We just do not have the space without removing the encroachments," Bhati said.

Without removing encroachment, augmentation of Haldwani railway station cannot be made, she said. The court asked the Union and the Uttarakhand governments to identify the strip of the land, essentially required for purpose of railway line or construction of necessary infrastructure and to identify families, likely to be affected in the event of evacuation from that strip of land and the proposed site where such affected families can be rehabilitated.

The court directed the chief secretary of Uttarakhand to convene a meeting with railway authorities and other frame a scheme which is fair, just, and equitable, as well as acceptable to all the sides.The bench directed the whole exercise to be completed in four weeks. It fixed the matter for further hearing on September 11. 

On January 5, 2024, 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.