India SC stays order on mass evictions

NEW DELHI: India’s top court has given temporary relief to thousands of people who were facing forced eviction from their homes in Uttarakhand state.

The top court put on hold an earlier high court order and said a “workable solution” must be found. Government officials have alleged that the affected people have encroached on land that belonged to Indian Railways.

In December, the state high court asked railway authorities to clear the land after giving them a week’s notice. But residents have been protesting, saying they have nowhere to go.

Reports say around 50,000 people would have been homeless if the high court order was carried out. They live in neighbourhoods situated on a 2-km-strip of land near Uttarakhand’s Haldwani railway station.

On 20 December, a two-judge bench of the high court had asked the railways to “use the forces to any extent determining upon need” to evict the “unauthorised occupants” after giving them a week’s notice.

But the Supreme Court said “thousands cannot be uprooted overnight” and added that a rehabilitation scheme should be put in place before evictions. The legal battle began after a public interest litigation on illegal mining in the area was filed in 2013 - later, the scope of the case was widened to include the alleged encroachments as well.

Hundreds of people, including women and children have been protesting for days against the order. Some residents said that they were being harassed without cause and asked how schools and hospitals could have operated in the area without permission.