Calcutta HC stays railway land evictions in 25 cases till June 30

Kolkata, June 17 (IANS) In 25 cases related to the eviction of alleged encroachments on railway land, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday stayed eviction proceedings in such locations till June 30.

In all areas adjacent to railway stations, including Ballygunge, Bamangachi, Baruipur, Dankuni, Guma, Banga, Durganagar, Mathurapur and Jadavpur, where petitions have been filed challenging the railways’ eviction notices, the High Court ordered that the existing notices cannot be implemented until June 30.

The court observed that no evictions can be carried out for the time being.

Apart from examining the location and land records, the railways will have to explain the basis for issuing eviction notices in each case in the coming days.

In cases involving those who were previously permitted by the railways to operate at these locations, the railways will have to submit a report to the court clarifying their status.

In some cases, the railways will also have to consider the issue of alternative arrangements before carrying out evictions and inform the court accordingly.

According to the petitions, although eviction notices have been issued for areas adjacent to railway stations at several locations, questions have been raised over whether the land in question actually belongs to the railways.

In this context, Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya observed that the railways should first conduct physical verification of all such locations and submit a report to the court in the coming days.

He directed that railway authorities would not be allowed to carry out any evictions anywhere till June 30.

Recently, railway authorities carried out a bulldozer drive at Habra railway station in North 24 Parganas district to remove alleged illegal shops on railway land.

The railway authorities had given the owners of such shops time till June 15 to remove their establishments from the station premises and adjacent land.

However, as they failed to do so, bulldozers were deployed to demolish the shops one by one.

Earlier, the railways had carried out eviction drives at Howrah and Sealdah stations in Kolkata, as well as at Jadavpur and Dum Dum stations.

However, a section of shopkeepers alleged that demolishing shops in this manner was illegal.

Hawkers have also been holding protests and processions at various places, claiming that they are losing their livelihoods overnight.

Subsequently, they filed petitions before the Calcutta High Court challenging the eviction drives.

As many as 25 petitions were filed, which were subsequently clubbed into a single petition.

–IANS

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