E-Paper
Eviction orders need to be just and humane
The decision to immediately evict 50,000 people from a parcel of land belonging to the Indian Railways in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, was always going to be controversial.
Laws surrounding land use and encroachment are some of the most manipulated and abused statutes in India, with egregious violations ignored as long as the violators wield power. Against the backdrop of such uneven law enforcement, the decision to immediately evict 50,000 people from a parcel of land belonging to the Indian Railways in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, was always going to be controversial. The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily suspended the eviction, and asked the authorities to find a solution to the problem.
The court is right in stressing that a practical and sensitive solution is preferable to using brute force to demolish settlements built over several decades, and by some accounts, with the acquiescence of the local authorities and government departments. Many petitioners told the apex court that they had bought small plots in auctions, secured a lease, or had certified title deed documentation attesting to a claim on their houses. Encroachment on government property cannot be condoned, but officials who issued certificates and documentation, allowed people to build houses, families and dreams over decades, political representatives who, no doubt, courted these residents for their votes, and the local authorities who turned a blind eye to the settlement must also accept their share of the blame. Sledgehammer action only penalises the underprivileged while allowing entrenched corruption to continue thriving. After all, just implementation of the law would precipitate action against many high-end resorts in the hills, plush farmhouses in the Aravallis and upmarket neighbourhoods in India’s metropolises. The fight for the implementation of anti-encroachment laws must be just and humane.
