India’s highest court accepts petition to stop a seven-day eviction order ostensibly over housing built illegally on railway land in Haldwani district. Some residents have lived for 50 years in the area, which has five public schools and a hospital. For the court, a rehabilitation scheme is needed.
New Delhi (AsiaNews/AsiaNews) – The Supreme Court of India today stayed a disputed order by the Uttarakhand High Court to evict residents ostensibly living in illegally built housing on railway land, some for more than 50 years.
Currently as many as 50,000 people live in the area, which is located in Haldwani district, many of them Muslims. On 20 December 2020, the state’s High Court directed the railway to remove unauthorised structures, giving residents a one week's notice to leave. Several petitions were filed against the order.
In today’s ruling, the Supreme Court noted that 50,000 people cannot be uprooted “in seven days”. If “people have lived there for 50-60 years, some rehabilitation scheme” is required, that is “assuming it is railway land”.
The court asked the government of Uttarakhand, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Indian Railways to respond to the petitions and postpone the matter to a hearing scheduled for 7 February.
In their applications to the Supreme Court, residents claim to have paid residential taxes for years and have an AADHAAR[*] card with their address indicated in the area. The latter has five public schools, a hospital and two overhead water tanks.
The case began in 2013 with a petition against illegal sand mining in the Gaula River, which runs next to Haldwani Railway Station, eventually expanded to include all alleged trespassing of railway land.
[*] A 12-digit unique identity number for Indian nationals and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve months in the country.