NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday told the illegal occupiers of more than 30 hectares of railway/state land at Haldwani in Uttarakhand to apply for houses under PM Awas Yojna (PMAY) and rejected their plea for in-situ rehabilitation on the ground that additional land was available for expansion .Appearing for the encroachers, advocate Prashant Bhushan said that they have been living there for decades and that at one point in time, the state govt had proposed to regularise their houses. “There is additional land available nearby which can be used for expansion of the railway project,” he said.However, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, “These are public land. Just because the authorities slept over the encroachment, it does not become your land. When it is public land, it is the state’s prerogative to decide how to use it, and the occupiers cannot dictate its use. “The only question is that when there is humanitarian concern, what best solution could be found to the problem. The concerns give rise to a privilege, not a right,” it said.The court had recorded that approximately 30 hectares of land, owned by Indian Railways/State,was allegedly encroached upon. Further, 4,365 houses are said to have been constructed at the site, where over 50,000 people are living.Responding to SC’s earlier directive for identification of land for rehabilitation of the unauthorised occupants, additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati said that finding land in the hilly state was difficult but added that if the occupiers applied for houses under PMAY, the eligible ones would be allotted dwelling units either in the state or in Uttar Pradesh.The bench recorded the offer of the railways and state govt to pay Rs 2,000 per month for each demolished house for six months to enable their residents to take up places on rent. The counsel said that the camp could be set up after March 19.
