'Can't uproot 50,000 people overnight': SC holds Uttarakhand HC's order on eviction of illegal occupants

“There cannot be uprooting of 50,000 people overnight. There has to be segregation of people who have no right on the land and the need for rehabilitation while recognizing the need of railways,” the Supreme Court stated, Indian Express reported.

Observing that the matter was a “human issue”, a bench of justices S K Kaul and A S Oka said some workable solution should be found.

The top court scheduled the next hearing on the matter to February 7.

The Supreme Court’s order came after Uttarakhand High Court directed the Railways “to use the forces to any extent determining upon need, to evict forthwith the unauthorised occupants after giving them a week’s time to vacate the premises”.

In its judgment, the high court said that the then-ruling party in the state provided a political shield to the illegal occupants for its political gains.

The 176-page HC ruling, commenting on the state’s earlier intervention, noted that “Owing to the certain most reckoned political shield, which was then being provided by the then ruling party for its political gains to the unauthorised occupants, just to secure its vote bank, the State itself has filed a Review Petition, for no subsisting and valid reasons… seeking review of the judgment dated 9th November, 2016, which too was dismissed by the Division Bench vide its judgment dated 10th January, 2017…”

Further, the high court dismissed residents’ claim that the 1907 record established the area as nazul land, stating that the document is only “an official communication, it will not have a statutory force”.

In 2022, the Railways approached the Uttarakhand High Court with a fresh petition seeking the eviction of illegal occupants under Section 147 of the Railways Act which pertains to trespass and refusal to desist from trespass.

The HC then issued a general notice allowing people who want to say something on the matter to do so through intervention applications.

After hearing a total of 10 intervention applications that were filed before the court and rejecting them, the court passed the final ruling on December 20.

It directed that the railway authorities in coordination with the district authorities should immediately ask the illegal occupants to vacate the land after giving a week’s notice and if need be take the help of any other paramilitary forces.