The Supreme Court said, "Railways cannot be let off the hook of their responsibility. It is not just the state government's responsibility... The time has come for the corporations to take the responsibility of removing the encroachment".
The Indian Railways has to take responsibility for encroachments on its land and take strict action against them, the Supreme Court said today, refusing to allow 5000 hutments to continue in Gujarat."All major cities have turned into slums... This is a sad story going on for 75 years and we are celebrating the 75th year of Independence next year," said a three-judge bench, turning down an appeal from the slum dwellers to stop the demolition.
"Look at any city, Chandigarh might be an exception but there are problems in Chandigarh as well. That is happening everywhere. Let us rise to reality and think how the problem has to be resolved," said Justice AM Khanwilkar, who was on the bench along with Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar.
Directing the Railways to initiate criminal action against unauthorised occupants immediately, the court said, "Railways cannot be let off the hook of their responsibility. It is not just the state government's responsibility... The time has come for the corporations to take the responsibility of removing the encroachment". The court said it would also review the action taken.
The Railways have also been asked to take action against officials who have allowed the encroachments to take place.
"Performance will be apprised by us and not your hirers. Your liability is an equal liability along with the state and corporation. The owner who is incapable of protecting the property should be liable along with the State and Corporation," Justice Khanwilkar told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, who was representing the Railways.
The order cleared the path for demolition of a huge swathe of hutments in Gujarat's Surat, that have come up on Railway land. The demolition will lead to the eviction of 10,000 people.
The court has asked the Gujarat government and the Railways to jointly provide a compensation of ₹ 2,000 per month for 6 months for each demolished hut. The money is for the people to manage accommodation till they are rehabilitated.
"The slum dwellers will be eligible for PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) accommodation if applications are made and eligibility is fulfilled," the court said.
The court had earlier stayed the demolition of the hutments, built along the railway track and issued notices to Centre, Western Railways and the state government.
In their appeal, the Surat-based 'Utran se Besthan Railway Jhopadpatti Vikas Mandal', said the slum dwellers will face irreparable injury if they are not provided with alternate arrangement. Once they are evicted and made homeless, their condition would become more miserable, especially in view of the pandemic, the petition had said.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves who appeared for the petitioners, said the people were living on Railway land for more than 60 years and most of them have proof of residence with them.
The Western Railways, he said, had planned a 10 km third railway line between Surat and Jalgaon and ordered the people to vacate the land without any notice or rehabilitation.
Link: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/all-major-cities-have-turned-into-slums-supreme-court-on-encroachments-2655377
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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) Diary No(s). 19714/2021
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 19-08-2021 in WPPIL No. 222/2014 passed by the High Court Of Gujarat At Ahmedabad)
UTRAN SE BESTHAN RAILWAY JHOPADPATTI VIKAS MANDAL Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
WITH Diary No(s). 23559/2021
Date : 16-12-2021
These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.M. KHANWILKAR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH MAHESHWARI
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C.T. RAVIKUMAR
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Kawalpreet Kaur, Adv.Ms. Hetvi Patel, Adv.Mr. Haider Ali, Adv.Mr. Satya Mitra, AORMs. Amiy Shukla, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG
MR. K. M. Nataraj, ASGMr. Kanu Agarwal, AdvMr. Akshay Amritanshu, AdvMr. Sanskriti Pathak, AdvMr. Varun Chaugh, AdvMr. Amrish Kumar, AORMr. K M Nataraj, Ld ASG.Mr. Vatsal joshi, Adv.Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv.Mr. S.K Singhania, Adv.Mr. Sughosh Subramanyam, Adv.Mr. Amrish Kumar, AORMr. Arun Bhardwaj, Sr. Adv.Mr. Rahul Kumar Sharma, Adv.Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AORMr. Munawwar Naseem, AORMr. Dhaval Nanavati,Mrs. Ruchi KhuranaMs. Sanjna Dua, Advocates
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
Diary No(s). 19714/2021
This special leave petition takes exception to the judgment and order dated 19.08.2021 in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 222 of 2014 whereby the cause espoused by the petitioners in the public interest litigation, of the occupants of the structures occupied by the concerned persons on Railway property came to be rejected by the High Court.
The fact that the structures are standing on the Railway property is not disputed at all. Their plea is only to provide suitable rehabilitation in lieu of the premises occupied by the concerned persons on the Railway property.
The respondent-Western Railways, at the outset asserts that it has not formulated any scheme much less for rehabilitation of persons who have encroached upon the Railway property. In fact, it is an offence to encroach upon any Railway property. Further, they want to execute a public project of linking of railway line between Surat-Udhna upto Jalgaon (Third Railway Line Project). That project is being obstructed by unauthorised structures on the Railway property. The project, though sanctioned in the year 2018, is still incomplete because of the standing structures on the Railway property to the extent of 2.65 kilometers length. The total length of project is 10 kilometers and requiring a width of 25 meters all along.
As regards the operative order passed by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad, rejecting the public interest litigation, we do not wish to deviate from that conclusion. However, the question is about rehabilitation of the occupants of the concerned structures, which are likely to be removed due to the proposed action of demolition by Western Railways.
According to Western Railways, the primary responsibility to ensure that no encroachment takes place on any property is that of the local Government and also of the State Government, in equal measure.
Although, the submission seems to be attractive at the first blush, does not commend to us. For, there is a special enactment which enables the Railway authorities to protect its property. That is its statutory and public trust obligation. It was open to the concerned Authority to invoke the provisions of special enactment including the Public Premises Act. For that, the Estate Officers should have moved into action in right earnest at the earliest opportunity. Even that option is not being invoked for reasons best known to the Authorities. Besides, the Railway establishment maintains a Railway police force whose services could be utilized to safeguard the Railways property, wherever it is situated.
As a result, the nuanced distinction made by the learned counsel for Western Railways does not commend to us. We hold that the Railways are equally responsible for the situation; and for which reason, it is also equally liable to provide some support to the persons likely to be affected by the removal of their structures.
Hence, keeping in mind the dictum of this Court in Ahemadabad Municipal Corporation Vs. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan reported in (1997) 11 SCC 121, on that analogy, we propose to issue following directions:
(i) The respondent – Western Railways do immediately issue notices to the occupants of the concerned structures which are falling within the belt which is required immediately for commencing the remaining project work by giving two weeks' time to the concerned occupant(s) to vacate the respective premises;
(ii) In respect of the remaining land owned by Railways, even though it may not be immediately required for the project, similar notice be given to the occupants of structures standing thereon by giving six weeks’ time to vacate the respective premises;
(iii) In either case (i) and (ii) above, the notices be issued within one week from today and if the occupants fail to vacate the unauthorized structure, it will be open to the respondent-Western Railways to initiate appropriate action to forcibly dispossess them and to demolish or remove the unauthorized structure(s) by taking assistance of the local police force. The Superintendent/Commissioner of Police of the concerned area shall ensure that adequate police force is deployed on the site and surrounding areas including to provide protection to the officials/staff engaged in the demolition of unauthorized structures and to facilitate them to commence the eviction process and demolition of the unauthorized structures, referred to in the eviction notices on the specified date and time;
(iv) Before commencing the process of eviction and removal of the structures, the Collector of the concerned District must ensure that necessary details about the names and number of persons occupying the concerned structure, including their identity and profile should be duly recorded, which record should be preserved by the Collector for considering the eligibility of those persons for being provided suitable residential accommodation after being evicted owning to proposed demolition action;
(v) The entity, who is the owner of the land, namely, Western Railways in this case as well as the local Government and the State Government shall be jointly and severally liable to pay a sum of Rs. 2,000/- per month per demolished structure for a period of six months from the date of demolition of their structure as ex-gratia amount to the head of the family/occupants unauthorized structure of the removed concerned during demolition action. That amount shall be initially paid by the Collector for a period of six months “only” (not beyond six months each) and shall be later on shared equally by the entity (owner of the land), local Government and State Government;
(vi) In the event, the local Government has any rehabilitation scheme, the affected persons may apply for being rehabilitated under the said scheme, if eligible and subject to verification of eligibility and complying with all other terms and conditions of the prevalent scheme. The local Government may provide them suitable residential accommodation in lieu of rehabilitation owing to demolition of their structure.
(vii) If no rehabilitation scheme has been formulated by the local Government or is in force, the persons likely to be affected by the action of demolition can apply for allocation of residential premises under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Scheme, which application be processed not later than six months from the date of its receipt and taken to its logical end, application-wise within such period.
(viii) Be it a case of rehabilitation under clause (vi) or (vii) above, the persons affected by demolition action by the Authorities cannot insist for allotment of alternative residential accommodation at the same place from where they have been evicted (as it is not in situ rehabilitation programme). The eligible persons be allotted accommodation wherever available in the same or even in neighbouring districts.
(ix) In addition, since the Railways have power to initiate civil/criminal action against the unauthorized occupants on the Railway property, must resort to those proceedings against the concerned persons immediately after it is brought to the notice to the concerned official of the Railways. Further, the Railways being the owner of the property, as also the local Government and State Government must initiate appropriate action against the erring persons, including the officials of the concerned establishment for allowing and tolerating such encroachment and for not taking corrective action of removal of encroachments in right earnest and at the earliest opportunity.
(x) The status report of the action taken by the Railway Board as also by the local Government and State Government be furnished to this Court before the next date.
List this matter on 28.01.2022.
In the meantime, learned counsel for the petitioner to cure the defects as pointed by the Registry.
Diary No(s). 23559/2021
The order passed in Diary No(s). 19714/2021 will operate even in this special leave petition, only qua the ten structures of the concerned petitioners herein.
Mr. Colin Gonsalves, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner points out that one more petition has been filed by the affected persons before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana being Writ Petition No.19647 of 2021, involving similar issues. The same is withdrawn and shall stand transferred to this Court in terms of this order.
List the transferred case and this petition along with Diary No. 19714 of 2021 on 28.01.2022.
In the meantime, learned counsel for the petitioner to cure the defects as pointed by the Registry.
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