The Supreme Court on August 25 refused to extend its interim stay order against a demolition drive against trespassers and encroachments on railway land at Nai Basti near Krishnajanmasthan at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
A Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi said squatters cannot claim the right to squat on public land. At best, they can seek time to vacate the public land and apply for rehabilitation.
“You can have some time to vacate a public place, but not claim a right to squat there. State consider you for any rehabilitation project. That is the law. That is what this court said in its judgment in the Olga Tellis case,” Justice Bose addressed senior advocate P.C. Sen and advocate Kaushik Choudhury, appearing for petitioner, Yakub Shah.
The Centre, represented by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, said the demolition of the encroached parts was any way over and the petition had become infructuous. Mr. Mehta said the petitioner had come to court with unclean hands.
In a 44-page affidavit, the Centre accused Mr. Shah of being a “meddlesome interloper” who had alleged in his public interest petition that the railway demolition drive did not follow due process.
The government said Mr. Shah had linked the eviction drive to a “disputed religious premises” in order to give the issue a “communal overtone”.
The Centre said Mr. Shah used sensational assertions to produce instantaneous outrage while “deliberately and wilfully” suppressing that his property was not affected by the eviction drive undertaken by the railways under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
Justice Bose said the court would consider imposing costs on Mr. Shah, but gave him time till Monday to file a rejoinder.
Mr. Sen said his client’s property was indeed affected. He was not a squatter. The demolition drive had triggered “untold human misery”. He submitted that there was no proof that the disputed land belonged to the railway.
The Centre, in its affidavit, however said the land in question fell on the side of the Mathura-Vrindavan rail track, which was a “pre-independence era metre gauge track”
The government submitted that Mathura-Vrindavan was an important pligrim centre with high foot fall. The absence of a broad gauge track compelled pilgrims to change trains at the Mathura junction. There is an increased demand for direct trains.
“The railways had undertaken the major project of converting this independent era metre gauge to broad gauge to run high speed or express trains on the route,” the affidavit said.
It said the project began in June last year. The removal of 135 encroachments were ordered in December 2022. Land plans verified by Tehsildar had proved that the north central railway land was the lawful owner of the encroached land.
The encroachers were given due notice under the 1971 Act to vacate the land in 21 days. The eviction proceedings had gone on from April to July 2023.
The affidavit said the encroachers had been given sufficient time to produce evidence of their title. Notice of the demolition was also published in two newspapers.
