Haldwani case: How did the Uttarakhand High Court arrive at its ruling?

Why in News?

• The Supreme Court recently stayed the Uttarakhand (UK) High Court order directing removal of encroachments on Indian Railways' land in UK’s Haldwani, which would have led to eviction of more than 4,000 families residing there.
• The petitioner argued that the UK HC ordered the summary eviction despite the fact that proceedings regarding the title of the Haldwani residents were pending before the district magistrate.
• While acknowledging the need for railways, the SC bench emphasized a workable arrangement to separate people who may have rights/no rights, as well as schemes of rehabilitation that already exist.

 

Background of Haldwani Case

• The UK HC in December 2022 directed the railways to give Haldwani’s Gafoor Basti residents one week’s time to move out, and after that use the forces to any extent to evict the unauthorised occupants.
• The Gafoor Basti residents assert that as per a 1907 government record, their ancestors had purchased plots from the Custodian Department of Government of India, which was entrusted with properties of those who left India after partition.
• The HC however held that the 1907 document was a mere ‘Office Memorandum’ and therefore invalid for the purposes of determining the classification of land.
• The HC decision came in response to public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2013 where the petitioner had moved court against illegal mining in the area after a bridge collapse, but the HC expanded the scope of the petition.

 

How did HC Decide in Favour of Railway? 

• Dated history: The HC recorded that a railway line was laid down by a Company in the year 1884, and it was later on transferred to Government of India in 1943.
• Illegal occupants: During the HC proceedings, the Railways also submitted a report stating that 4,365 occupants of the state and Railway’s land were found to be ‘unauthorised’, hence demanding immediate eviction process against them.

 

Consequences of Dislocation of Haldwani residents

• Invariably affect poorer sections: Dealing with encroachments through demolitions and evictions, which disproportionately affect the poor and cause irreparable harm to vulnerable lives while also failing as public policy.
• Diminishes public welfare: Forceful eviction (referred as bulldozer urbanism) diminishes the quantum of public welfare by uprooting populations from sites of educational, financial and residential security without any meaningful positive outcomes.
• No long-lasting solution: It do not offer any permanent solution to the structural problems of making better cities and offering solutions to problems of housing, public infrastructure, etc., in cities.
• Discriminatory state action: Evicting poorer sections display biased governance action because it excludes the upper class. According to the G D Birla committee (1951), illegal urban spaces (slums) were not aberrations but outcomes of the state’s own policies of urban development. 

 

What can be the workable arrangement?

• Holistic policies of urban planning that are not fragmented due to multiple authorities - railways, electricity and water boards, are needed.
• It requires thinking of the city as an organism with complex social needs (i.e., a social entity), rather than merely an economic entity.
• Also, strategies of dealing with the state, land mafias, corrupt bureaucracies and the original landowners who sell their lands for “illegal” occupation need to be developed to avoid long-lasting disputes and negotiations.

 

Conclusion

• The courts should recognize their role as protectors of citizens against the arbitrariness of state action, and compassion for the most marginalized in urban life should be developed.

 

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Q1) What is Section 147 of The Railway Act?

Section 147 of The Railway Act deals with trespass and refusal to desist from trespass. It provides for punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

 

Q2) What are the features of urban slum?

The UN- HABITAT operationally defined urban slum communities as areas that possess inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and other urban infrastructure, poor structural quality of housing, overcrowding, and insecure residential status.

 

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Source: Haldwani case: How did the Uttarakhand High Court arrive at its ruling?