The conflict between fundamental rights of individuals and the establishment’s developmental push took center-stage again as the Supreme Court intervened and halted an eviction attempt involving over 4000 families from a railway land in Uttarakhand. The apex court on Thursday stayed an order of the high court there a fortnight ago, which called for the urgent evictions in a matter of a week. “There cannot be such an eviction in seven days,” the apex court has ruled. The eviction was sought for railway development by arguing that the area, Haldwani, formed the railways’ gateway to Uttarakhand state. The argument on the dwellers’ side was that several of these families had been living there even before Independence, many of them had leasehold rights, and that some of these lands had been taken in formal auctions.
The apex court stressed that the government or the railways cannot ignore the humanitarian considerations. The issue was compounded by the fact that the authorities did not come up with a rehabilitation plan by citing a specious argument that there was no such “demand” from the occupants. It is incumbent on the part of the authorities to think of a rehabilitation plan, on their own, with or without a demand. A negative approach by them reeked of arrogance and abrasiveness and this compounded the problem. The apex court has rightly nailed the authorities on this count. At the same time, a common cause is involved in all developmental projects including those of the railways, the highways authority, or in the setting up of projects like a steel plant that benefit the nation.
The fundamental right of individuals cannot override national aspirations. Notably, the central government is giving lucrative compensations – more than the market value of land – in the matter of highway development in recent times. As a result, acquisition of land for NH projects is more or less a smooth process now. In the case of the railway land in Uttarakhand, the authorities rather took the rash route by only stressing on the right of the railways to reclaim its own land. In several such cases, the situation gets compounded by acts of politicians, who help people to grab government/railway land. Many who grab such lands could, on their own, not have resisted immediate evictions or uprooting of their temporary dwellings. Over a period, these turn into pucca (permanent) dwelling units or shops. The permissiveness of the political class and their attempt to turn such dwellers into their vote banks as also bribe-taking by officials in such situations cause problems for the future as was likely the case in Uttarakhand too.
