Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday ordered a stay on a drive to evict slum dwellers living behind Manas Bhawan in Shymla Hills in Bhopal.
The slum dwellers had reportedly been living on encroached land that has been identified as forest land by authorities. The order was passed by Justice Amit Sheth.
Twenty seven families were to be shifted on Monday by the district administration at three locations—Bhauri, Kalkheda, and Malikheda. These families had reportedly been living there for the last 70 years. The encroached land is spread across 5,613 sqft and has been identified as forest land.
The district administration had issued eviction notices to all 27 families on August 25. As per the HC order, the administration has been restrained from taking any coercive measures for demolition of the residential accommodation of the petitioners.
The petitioners submitted that against the eviction orders an appeal in terms of section 44(1) of the MP Land Revenue Code has been preferred by the petitioners before the Sub Divisional Officer (Nazul), Circle Bhopal. The appeal was preferred in September 2025; however, till date, no order on the said appeal has been filed yet, but the respondents (administration) are trying to forcefully evict the petitioners by demolishing their residential accommodation.
The state submitted that petitioners have already availed the statutory remedy of appeal before the Sub Divisional Officer and, therefore, the instant writ petition challenging the very same order, being parallel proceeding, is not maintainable. The petitioners have filed their appeal before the First Appellate Authority but have not pressed the same for all this time. There is nothing on record to indicate that any application seeking stay of order of eviction has been filed along with the pending appeal.
SDM Deepak Pandey said, “The stay is only till January 5. The district administration will inform the HC that it is giving slum dwellers accommodation to vacate the premises.”
