SC to hear pleas on removal of encroachment in Haldwani

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a matter in which it stayed the Uttarakhand High Court directions for the removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land that has been claimed by the railways in Haldwani.
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, the pleas challenging the high court order are listed for hearing on August 7 before a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia. The apex court said on May 2 that its interim order staying the high court’s December 20 last year directions will continue during the pendency of appeals before it. “The interim order(s) is made absolute during the pendency of the appeals,” the top court said in its May 2 order. On January 5, the top court, in an interim order, stayed the high court’s directions for the removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land, terming it a “human issue” and saying 50,000 people cannot be uprooted overnight.
According to the railway, there are 4,365 encroachers on the land. The occupants had earlier staged protests in Haldwani, asserting they were the rightful owners of the land. Nearly 50,000 people, a majority of them Muslims, belonging to over 4,000 families reside on the disputed land.
While hearing the matter in May, the apex court asked the lawyers appearing for the railways as well as the state government how much time it would take to find a solution. It had been noted that the centre’s counsel had stated that endeavour was on to work out a reasonable solution as early as possible.
The apex court had earlier issued notices to the railways and the Uttarakhand government seeking their responses to a batch of pleas challenging the high court order for the removal of encroachments.