Haldwani eviction: No rehabilitation policy for encroachers, Railways tells Supreme Court

The Ministry of Railways told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it does not have a policy for rehabilitation of encroachers impinging on railway infrastructure and safety. The Ministry made the remark in an affidavit filed in a case before the Supreme Court challenging the Uttarakhand High Court's order based on which evictions were to be carried out on 30 acres of railway land in Haldwani.

"The Ministry of Railways has no policy or provision for rehabilitation of encroachers and therefore no compensation ought to be given in favour of encroachers impinging on railway infrastructure and safety’," said the affidavit.

The affidavit said apart from 13 individuals who have been identified by the Uttarakhand government, the people residing on the land in question are "illegal occupants".

The Supreme Court stayed the Uttarakhand High Court’s order in January while saying "50,000 people cannot be evicted overnight". The top court asked the Uttarakhand government to come up with a means to make the land available for the railways while providing rehabilitation measures to the people who are living on those lands.

The Ministry has now told the court that the status of the petitioners is that of encroachers, therefore no right of rehabilitation would accrue in their favour. It also argued that the petitioners never claimed rehabilitation and their pleas were only about their specific claims on the land in question.

The ministry's affidavit was filed after joint conferences were held between the Uttarakhand government and the Ministry of Railways. It said there was a general consensus that the Railways' claim to the land in question is genuine and justified as per the 1959 Railway Land plan and duly verified by the state government in 1972.

The Ministry also told the court that the State of Uttarakhand in its affidavit clarified that out of 30.040 hectares of the land in question on which the encroachments exist, 16.556 hectares were already recorded under the Railways.

The petition challenging the Uttarakhand High Court order said that people have been staying in Haldwani’s Mohalla Nai Basti for years and the court’s eviction order came at a time when the titles of the residents are pending before the district magistrate. The petitioners also said their names are on the house tax register and that they have been paying taxes for years for staying there.