oppn parties Supreme Court Says Haldwani Squatters Cannot Be Removed By Brute Force

News Snippets

  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Supreme Court Says Haldwani Squatters Cannot Be Removed By Brute Force

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-01-07 06:24:18

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

With a huge number of migrants and homeless people in cities and towns, encroachment of government land is a serious problem in India. Huge tracts of land owned by the government or government-owned entities (and even privately-owned land in some places) have been occupied by illegal settlers all over the country. But, as the Supreme Court rightly pointed out in the case of Haldwani squatters on railways land, people who have made it their home for more than 40 years cannot be "uprooted overnight". The Supreme Court has always held that while illegal encroachment cannot be automatically legalized, the squatters cannot also be removed arbitrarily.

There is no doubt that what the squatters have done is illegal and discriminates against others who are homeless but if they have occupied the space and have been living there for decades (having identity and address proof documents issued by government authorities bearing the address of the plot, and in some cases even lease or title deeds) without any action on part of the authorities, it is inhumane and unfair to tell them to pack up and go.

To understand the problem, we have to examine the modus operandi under which such land is 'grabbed'. No one can build even a temporary structure, let alone grab a piece of land and build a permanent house on it, without the active connivance of the political and administrative class. The former does it for creating a vote bank and the latter to their bidding and make some money on the side. Even a hawker setting up a roadside stall will be made to pay a lump sum amount and then daily or monthly 'fee' to be able to do business.

Hence, more than the squatters, it is those who give them protection or sell them dreams in the form of lease or ownership deeds or identity and address-proof documents or the 'right' to illegally occupy public space are at fault. Although things have now improved and the government and government-owned entities take good care of their land and do not allow squatters, the Supreme Court is right in saying that a humane solution needs to be found and using brute force to evict the squatters cannot be allowed.