In a significant directive issued on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of India called on Uttarakhand’s chief secretary to coordinate with the central government and railways to formulate a rehabilitation plan for over 50,000 individuals residing on railway property in Haldwani. This decision comes amidst ongoing legal proceedings where the Centre sought to overturn a prior Supreme Court order that halted the execution of a Uttarakhand High Court decision. This earlier decision mandated the removal of encroachments from a 29-acre plot claimed by the railways.
A panel led by Justice Surya Kant emphasized the necessity for the state government to outline a detailed scheme for the resettlement of these individuals. “The ultimate thing is that families have been living on this land for decades, they are human beings and courts cannot be ruthless. Courts need to maintain a balance and the state needs to do something,” remarked the bench during the hearing.
The apex court has also instructed the state authorities to promptly identify the specific areas of land necessary for upgrading infrastructure and for the realignment of the railway track. This is to ensure that the families who will be displaced by these developments are adequately accounted for and supported.
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The discord stems from a dispute over the rightful ownership of the land, with the railways claiming encroachment by 4,365 individuals, a figure contested by the occupants. These occupants, who have been staging protests in Haldwani, assert that they are the legitimate proprietors of the land. Notably, the majority of the residents on the disputed land are Muslims, comprising over 4,000 families.
