GS Analyst: Daily Current Affairs

The Supreme Court stayed a Uttarakhand High Court order for eviction of around 50,000 people who have illegally encroached upon the railway land in Haldwani.

What is the issue?

• Thousands of families are facing eviction from the railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area after the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the removal of encroachments. 
• The eviction notices were served to families living on Railway land in Haldwani, who have reportedly been residing in unauthorized colonies for the last decade.
• While the residents of the premises claim that the land has belonged to them for nearly a decade, the Railways told the court that none of the encroachers could present documents proving that it was their property. 

Points made by the Supreme Court

• There can't be the uprooting of 50,000 people overnight. There has to be segregation of people who have no right on the land and the need to rehabilitate while considering the interests of the railways.
• In this case, the human angle is involved, thus, there has to be rehabilitation.
• The Bench, however, clarified that it had only stayed the eviction order passed by the high court and not the proceedings initiated under the Public Property Act.

What is the nature of land ownership in India?

• In India, land ownership is primarily established through a registered sale deed (a record of the property transaction between the buyer and seller).
• Other documents used to establish ownership include the record of rights (document with details of the property), property tax receipts, and survey documents. 
• However, these documents are not a government-guaranteed title to the property, but only a record of the transfer of property. 
• During such transactions, the onus of checking past ownership records of a property is on the buyer. 

Therefore, land ownership in India, as determined by such sale deeds, is presumptive in nature, and subject to challenge.