Mumbai: HC Refuses Protection To Encroachers From Eviction

There is no fundamental right to trespass or to squat, observed the Bombay High Court while refusing to extend protection from eviction to encroachers on railway lands. It further said that once proper legal procedure has been followed, eviction of trespassers and encroachers cannot be indefinitely delayed.

A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, refused protection to residents of Ekta Welfare Society, who sought stay on eviction and demolition notice issued by the Western Railway (WR).

Encroachment has to stop

“We are supposed to permit and turn a blind eye to constant encroachment on public lands and properties. This has to stop. Once a procedure mandated by law has been followed, eviction of trespassers and encroachers cannot be indefinitely delayed,” said the high court.

The high court, on February 8, stayed the eviction and demolition notices issued by the WR, without having a rehabilitation scheme in place, as per the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the eviction of persons on Railway lands. The HC had then asked the WR and the BMC to conduct a survey and follow proper procedure as per the law before taking any action. A day before the order, several hutments were demolished.

Last week, the society once again approached the HC challenging fresh notices issued by the authorities. The HC, on June 23, stayed the notices while asking the Union of India to file its reply. The Union government informed the HC that the society has filed a suit in the City Civil Court at Dindoshi against the notices, but failed to get any reprieve.

Irked with the misrepresentation and suppression of the fact, the HC noted that such petitioners should not be “entitled to any protective orders. We do not agree that when it comes to persons who claim that they are poor etc that there is a different standard for candour and that the requirement of a complete disclosure of all material factors does not apply to such persons or that it is confined to other entities,” the bench said.

The judges also noted that the plea makes wild allegations against everybody from municipal officials to corporators and even an NGO, SPARC (Society for Promotion of Area Resources Centre). The NGO has been steadily working over many decades with oustees and a structured programme for relocation and rehousing.

Enough is enough

The judges remarked that every time some encroachments are removed, more encroachment takes place. “Indeed, the plaint indicates that there has been more than one survey but every time there is a survey there were more encroachments and then after one removal, the cycle started all over again,” the bench averred.

Noting that the legal battle has been going on since 2020, the HC said therefore the petitioners’ claim in 2023 that all of these notices have been suddenly issued with no prior warning and no survey is untrue.

Dismissing the petition, the bench said: “We are not inclined to grant an extension of time for even a minute because these petitioners have quite literally tried to pull a fast one on this court… We refuse to grant any such extension. Enough is enough.”